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Chapter Text

Avengers Tower, or formally known as Stark Tower was shining bright this particular dark autumn evening as most of the ‘Avengers were off in their own respected suites, that is except the brilliant Tony Stark.

Tony was in his little basement, papers scattered everywhere but the neat and orderly desk in the corner of the room. His blue software was lit around him with clear screens, showcasing everything he was currently working on, as well as side projects he clearly made note not to forget. One being to alert one of his assistants to order a cake for his cleaning lady as it was her 45th birthday this weekend.

Tony ran his hands through his mangled hair, taking a brief moment to feel his fingers. Greasy. He will make a note to shower tomorrow morning, noticing he had put off his regular needs for too long.

He was busy tinkering and adjusting his formulas with the sustainable free energy he had been working with to fuel the tower. Although his mind was slipping away from his original task as he had a reluctant notification from FRIDAY alerting him that a particular super soldier had been seen in the training arenas outside of scheduled sessions.

Tony knew that occasionally the Cap visited the arena from time to time to work out, keep up on those beefy muscles of his, (not that he was paying any attention), but he made sure to keep an eye out every now and then ever since Roger’s pal had woken up and was currently recovering in special care in Wakanda.

“FRIDAY, cue up eyes on Rogers.” Tony alerted, which FRIDAY replied quickly in her Irish accent, “Got it, boss.”, which Tony reluctantly ignored. He zoomed in quickly.

Rogers was lining up a slew of punching bags across the tiled floor and was clearly in the pajamas that Tony had sent him for Xmas last year. The print was clearly the shield over and over again throughout and the bright red pants were an easy item to spot right away on the cameras. Tony chuckled, although realized that wasn’t the most appropriate when he noticed the dark pink around Cap’s eyes. Even through the security cam, Tony could make out that the old man had been crying, or had been fighting with himself to stop through punching it out.

Tony sat down on his backless spinny chair and pushed himself back with a sigh. He rubbed his eyes, before leaning forward and swiping away the camera footage on his screen. Tony squeezed his eyes shut, noting the dryness and irritation and wrote down quickly to remember to wear his blue light glasses when working. He wasn’t certain if writing it down on a screen to remember had any tact or point but he elected to ignore that.

Of course, Tony knew he needed to go check on his friend, trust me he was on that like a pack of wild dogs hunting a rabbit. But, Rogers? Crying? That was never something Tony had seen before. Sure, he had seen the man emotional in some retrospect. He’s seen Steve passionate, about all things that make him represent ye and dear America. Tony has seen him angry and determined as well, in ways that Tony wouldn’t dream to see again, although would never admit that aloud of course, thank the heavens they settled their qualms with each other in the past.

Tony had never seen him this vulnerable and the thought of it shook him and wasn’t sure of what he would say, or what he would do when he went down there. If Tony even going down there to join him in some company would be the right thing to do. Would Steve react like a frightened deer or snap at him like a wounded animal?

Tony would just have to go and find out for himself.

---------

It was about 11 pm eastern standard time but in Wakanda it was 11 am. Steve took note that it was roughly a 12 hour distance if at any point he was allowed to communicate with Bucky.

Bucky had been stationed there now for about 3 months or so, though Steve had only been able to video call him 3 times. Each time Steve had been informed that Bucky was in an emotional state and that talking with Steve would only cause him more stress to his psyche and it was more than he was able to handle. Although Steve didn’t understand, he made sure to tread lightly and not force himself in places he clearly shouldn’t. Only for Bucky’s sake, because all he truly wanted was his closest reminder of home to feel safe.

His friend, obviously.

Steve called T’Challa, the phone number he was given if he were to want to set up a voice to voice with Bucky a couple hours ago to check in on how he had been holding up. Although on the phone he met with Shuri, which was surprising as he had only spoken with her maybe once.

“Steve again, right?” Shuri answered, with a slight jest to her voice that at this particular time Steve was not fond of.

“Yes, um I was wondering if Buck was around to talk for a few minutes. It’s been awhile, I just want to see how he’s been.” Steve replied, eager to brush off Shuri’s initial sass at her way of answering his phone call.

“James is doing well, unfortunately he is on his run and has a busy day ahead of him. Very therapeutic.” Shuri replied, sounding awfully eager to hang up the phone. “Can I leave a message for him?”

Steve immediately felt that familiar sinking feeling in his gut. It had been nearly a month since they had last had the ability to speak and it was slowly eating him away.

“Um, sure… Just tell him um, I care ‘bout him and that I hope he’s alright.” Steve stuttered, his familiar Brooklyn accent spilling forward.

To Steve's surprise, his message left Shuri to give a small giggle over the speaker which left heat to rise quickly to his cheeks.

“He definitely knows that, but I will be sure to tell him that for you.” Shuri answered, with a short “goodbye”, and a click leaving Steve shamefully on dial tone.

“Damn.” Steve cursed to himself, tossing his stupid cell phone onto his bed. He sat down beside it, taking a deep breath to relax himself although it wasn't getting him very far.

Many emotions hit Steve like a cascade of waves in a storm. Steve sat there for a moment or two with his mind racing. He didn't think why it was a big deal to just hear his voice for a few minutes, but Steve reminded himself how selfish that truly sounded as this was the best for Bucky. At least that's what Bucky had said the first time they spoke and just about everyone else he had talked to about the subject- which wasn't many.

Steve's eyes stung, his chest tightened and he knew he was holding back everything he truly was feeling in fear someone could hear. So, Steve did what he thought was best and slipped on some sneakers to scoot off to the training room.

He felt a few, hot tears roll down his cheeks as he swung on a grey zip up sweatshirt, which he angrily swiped away as he walked down the hallways to one of the many main elevators to go downstairs. Steve hit the arrow pointing down and waited patiently, his eyes straight down at the floor in case anyone came by and noticed him. It wasn’t long before he heard the familiar ding and strode into the elevator pressing the button down to the lowest floor.

-----

“Alright, alright take a break Rocky, don’t you need some sleep before the big show tomorrow?” Tony asked, watching Steve drop an entire punching bag with one mean swing. It was enough to get Tony to raise his eyebrows, unfortunately impressed.

Steve took a short moment to look over his shoulder and acknowledge Tony before lifting another punching bag from the floor to hang it over the hook from the gym equipment. He briefly made sure the tape over his knuckles were secure then promptly neglected to respond before continuing his form moments ago.

Tony sighed, but only approached Rogers within a secure distance. He knew this wasn’t an easy task but he wasn’t expecting to be ignored.

“Um, hello? Earth to Cap? Let’s cut this out and go to bed huh?” Tony pushed, to get Rogers to stop punching away and hopefully have a conversation surrounding Steve’s current strange behavior. “Why don’t we talk about what’s bothering you?”

Steve landed a hard punch before grabbing the bag and steadying it still. “Just can’t sleep.” Steve answered between moments of gathering his breath back before starting right back up again. He swallowed hard, frustrated with the fact that even Tony could notice he was breaking down. He kept himself distracted, focusing on that anger landing hit after hit on the bag.

“Fine, if you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to talk.” Tony softened, to Steve’s surprise. Although it still sounded like Tony with his usual underlying hint of sass, the message itself still sounded sincere. “But don’t act like I don’t know what’s going on. You act all tough, using that oh I don’t know… that shield of yours to cover up. We all have shit we dish out behind the scenes.” Tony found himself monologuing for a moment, staring at Steve’s face as if trying to make out what he was thinking. “You don’t have to be so mysterious about it.”

Steve could feel his gaze start to pierce through him and after a moment of fighting with himself internally to just look over, he finally gave in and stepped away from the bag. He began to unwrap the white, sweaty tape from his hands as he walked over to pick up one of the already beaten down punching bags he sorely beaten.

“I’m sorry Tony, um…” Steve started, tossing the used tape in the blue trash bin next to the recycling. He returned to the beaten punching bag on the ground and just sank to the floor. “Clearly I’m going through something.”

Tony briefly was amazed to see Steve open up, but made sure to appear completely casual as he didn’t want to scare the poor old man away. He approached him by plopping down on the broken punching bag so he didn’t have to come into direct contact with the floor.

“Yeah, um I think I have a strange feeling. I know who or what this is about too…” Tony coughed, to clear his throat. “Well, more or less on who actually, rather.”

Steve closed his eyes for a moment and felt his face flush just like it had earlier on the phone when Shuri had assumed it was him looking to speak to Bucky again. He didn’t realize how clear his worry over Bucky showed and he felt a sense of guilt that now he was causing people to worry about himself instead.

“That obvious, huh?” Steve muttered, his eyes to the floor for a moment.

“Lot of people are noticing how you’ve been a bit more… tense lately. On your phone more. That says enough to me, because you hate that thing.” Tony stated, using finger quotes clearly pointing out something that Steve had said before. It was enough to get a small chuckle out of Steve that Tony was thankful for. “He’s doing okay, from what I’ve heard through the grapevine. And through my intel of course.”

Tony watched as Steve only nodded in response and then shook his head like he was considering to say more but decided against it. It worried Tony, mainly because he hadn’t seen Cap so fiercely protective over just one person. Sure, he was a Captain who did everything to protect his team and their little Avengers: Initiative and all that but this Bucky Barnes character that Tony only knew so much about from stories and average everyday history books, was very different. It kept Steve up and awake at all hours and hitting away at punching bags. Tony knew something he wasn’t sure Steve did but he treaded carefully to find out.

“Barnes seems really important to you.” Tony expressed, in a matter of fact sort of way.

It was hard for Tony to bring up, even especially after finding out what Barnes- well the winter soldier, or even rather HYDRA did to his family. It’s been a little more than half a year of therapy to sort through that it’s helped decipher that difference. Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt, but it hurt also to know how much it’s hurt an innocent man like Barnes to be torn apart like that in all sorts, mentally, emotionally and physically.

The silence for a moment was deafening, for the two of them really. The vulnerability wasn’t a typical thing the two of them participated in as they often butted heads with differing opinions, although they agreed their hearts were always in the right place.

“Well, even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.” Steve muttered, quietly fiddling with his thumbs, hesitant to meet Tony’s gaze. “I just hope I’m offering him all I can because well… he’s always been there for me.” Steve paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, a lump forming in the back of his throat. “I don’t know if I’m doing all I can.”

Tony looked away from Steve for a moment to chuckle, a small smile forming on his face. It was amusing to Tony that of all things Steve was worried about was if his message of care/love/support was received to Bucky. The thought of that was sickly sweet to Tony.

“This funny to you?” Steve snapped, biting down his jaw tight and stood up. He considered heavily on walking away but was quickly stopped by Tony rushing in front of his beeline to the exit.

“Wait, wait! Not what I meant. Hold on, soldier.” Tony raised his hands in front of him and Steve was forced to hear him out. “You are doing what you can, that’s why I may have… potentially giggled.”

“You laughed.” Steve interrupted, clearly a bit embarrassed from being so direct about his feelings just then.

“Okay. Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry, Cap honest. Clearly you are doing all that you can do to um, support your… close dear, semi-romantic codependent friendship with Barnes.” Tony rambled, trying to get his point across.

“Excuse me?” Steve cut in, momentarily flustered before just outwardly appearing pissed.

“Cap, no I just mean that-” Tony interjected, before failing miserably.

“No, I think you made your point clear.” Steve muttered, disappearing back to his room leaving Tony and his leftover mess of punching bags on the floor with him .

Chapter Text

Steve had just got back from a simple cut and dry hostage situation in which he had to free several people kidnapped due to another HYDRA/SHIELD situation. Unfortunately the team was still recovering from the loss of SHIELD that had been infiltrated by HYDRA things have been a bit more busy. Thankfully, with the help of Natasha everyone made it out safe.

Steve and Nat were walking back into the Avengers tower the two of them decidedly going to the cafe that Tony had chipped in for in the building for these reasons exactly. Being a bit too hungry to make food themselves and not wanting to have to order out and wait for delivery. Steve picked out some hardy salad with a lot of nuts and croutons while Nat ordered a sandwich and the two waited in the lounge. The room had light blue and white walls, the couch following suit with the pattern a deep rich navy blue with dark tables at the matching booths.

When the food was ready and called out, the two of them tiredly scooted into a booth, silently opening up their food and ate absentmindedly. The booths were against giant glass walls that had a view of the city. The cafe was on one of the higher floors so Steve would occasionally look down below, finding it strange to see the people walking down below so small. Nat on the other hand was scrolling away at something on her phone as she took bites of her sandwich, occasionally making a sniff out of her nose like she found a funny meme she didn’t quite laugh at.

After a moment or two, Nat shuts her phone off and places it on the table loud enough that it wakes Steve up from whatever day dream he was in to her attention.

“So…” Nat pops her tongue. “I heard you and Stark got into a little spat yesterday evening.” Natasha follows up with a small smirk, leaning forward. It was enough to cause Steve to sigh and roll his eyes.

“It’s not a huge deal.” Steve muttered, although he knew this wasn’t the end of it when it came to Nat.

“Sure it wasn’t.” She smiled, then stretched, plopping her legs up on the other side of Steve’s end of the booth. “So, I’ll bite. What happened?”

Steve wanted to ignore her, really. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to give his side of the story but he trusted her enough that he should say something. Especially because she was a hard ass with this sort of stuff and was going to find out no matter what.

“I’m sure you already have a wonderful retelling from Tony’s point of view, so I’m sure you don’t need to hear much from me.” Steve remarked, with a tiny bit of a shit eating grin on his face. He wasn’t going to give in that easily especially because this happened last night and he had not told a single soul about it.

Natasha sighed, with a small pout on her face. One thing you wouldn’t expect about Nat, is that she truly loved knowing things in people’s personal lives. She was a bit of a gossip and thankfully she knew this about herself.

“Oh come on, you know Tony overdramatized things. I wanna know what really happened, I just want our work husbands on the same page again.” Natasha persisted.

“Work husbands?” Steve questioned, a bit dumbfounded by that phrase.

“It’s just a term with two people you work with that are close. Build the work team closer or whatever. Work wife, work husband… Same thing.” Natasha explained briefly, while she began to pull small pieces of her red wavy hair away from her face. “Now on with the story, Rogers.”

“Alright, alright…” Steve chuckled, Nat always finding a way to make him laugh. “I went downstairs last night just to work out. Decided on using some punching bags.”

“Yeah? Upset were we?” Nat prodded, taking the last bite of her sandwich.

“Hm? Yes, unfortunately.” Steve confirmed, pushing around the leaves in his salad with his fork. “Then Tony paid me a visit, forced me to talk.”

“Oh no, he poked the bear.” Nat teased.

“No, it’s not like that.” Steve sighed, putting his fork down. He closed the lid to his salad, and gazed out the window at the now clouded sky. It looked like it was going to rain soon.

Natasha studied Steve like she was trying to read his mind with her eyes. From what she could decipher, was that he truly was upset and that it must have had little to do with Tony at all. She connected most of the dots in her head but waited patiently for Steve to hopefully start again.

“Tony… He said something strange about Bucky and I. Didn’t sit right with me.” Steve admitted, then swallowed. He felt a bit jittery about it and starting to notice he had felt this similar way thinking about Bucky in general. It had made him feel sick to his stomach and made him glad he stopped eating.

“Hm. I heard what Tony said. It was a bit rude.” Natasha agreed, meeting Steve’s gaze for a moment before observing how quickly he looked away. “Was that what bothered you? The co-dependant bit?”

Steve immediately shook his head, like he was disagreeing. Then followed up with a shrug like he wasn’t quite sure of how he felt, or why he was upset with him to begin with. Steve started to realize that he wasn’t sure why he got upset with Tony at all, he just knew that he was.

“I um, not sure.” Steve stuttered.

Natasha waited a moment to see if Steve would say more, but she felt pity as she watched him uncomfortably shift in his seat with his face all flushed in a flustered state.

“Well, um I might have an assumption or two. Might be wrong but maybe I can offer you a little clarity.” Natasha started, pulling her legs back under the table then folded her hands together neatly. “That is- if you promise to be open minded. Don’t shoot the messenger so to speak.”

Steve swallowed, uncertain what Natasha meant by how she spoke but took a short inhale to calm his nerves before firmly nodding. He decided to trust her, as she’s become somewhat of the closest friend he’s had since he’s come out of the ice.

“Alright. Shoot.” Steve answered, meeting her gaze.

“Well…” Natasha began, twiddling her thumbs for a brief second before gathering her words. “Did you possibly consider that just maybe your relationship with Barnes has always been viewed a bit close?”

Steve coughed and for some reason his body temperature started to feel quite a bit warmer. He knew his face was probably a bit flushed, his heart raced a bit in anxiety as well. He was unfortunately familiar with this feeling when it came to Bucky but it had never got so much more pronounced until now.

“What are you getting at?” Steve pressed, with a hint of aggressive nature he didn’t quite intend to but it just slipped out. Nat made a pointed look, which Steve understood referred to ‘Don’t shoot the messenger’, and Steve muttered a soft “Sorry.”, before Nat continued.

“It just seems to most people, myself included… Though I will respectively add that this is okay and nothing is wrong with this at all…” Nat emphasized, slowing down her words. “That you have some strong feelings for him. Perhaps a little bit more than friendly.”

Steve had just felt like he had been run over by a truck, like he was a child again in trouble with the teacher in the middle of class forced to wear a DUNCE cap and hit with a ruler in the back of the class. Gears in his brain started to click for him in a dangerous way when something so obvious just was brought into the light. It was as if this was sitting on the top of Steve’s tongue for ages and it was just now he tasted it, for a moment it was a wonderful feeling. To know, to realize that it was something so simple. The dawning on this very quickly dimmed when an overwhelming feeling of guilt, regret and shame replaced it. The shock of the car crash was starting to hit him all at once.

“Steve. Please, listen. Nothing is wrong with you.” Natasha reached her hands across the table and grasped Steve’s tightly which pulled Steve away from his internal nightmare. “Honestly, everyone has a bet that Barnes has it out for you too.”

His hands fell from Natasha’s immediately once she mentioned Bucky in that sort of light, shaking his head in disgust. Steve felt like he had this sickness filling him up inside. Like he had something so deeply wrong with him. He knew that in this century things were different, that people could love anyone, that it was okay to. It took him some time to get used to, not that he wasn’t respecting people’s choices but Steve for a second didn’t quite make the distinction himself that he could be one of those people.

“Say something, Steve.” Natasha paused, not for a second looking away. Her arms were still outstretched across the dark mahogany table as if it was still an invitation to reach out if Steve felt he needed her comfort. “I am happy for you, I don’t care, I won’t shame you for who you love or what you want to do in the bedroom-”

“Nat, stop.” Steve choked up, a lump forming in the back of his throat.

“Okay.” Natasha gave a short smile, that she was glad Steve noticed when he finally met her gaze. “It’s common. Pretty sure everyone I know is a little queer, including the quite obviously bisexual Stark.”

Steve made a face of clear confusion, while his eyes started to well up with tears. He still, despite starting to feel loads better by Natasha’s unbridled support and optimism, felt like a ton of bricks had got dropped on his chest. Steve tried everything in his power to keep himself from slipping a few tears, to no avail.

“Let’s head up to my suite, okay?” Nat replied, quickly understanding that this public setting was a bit too harsh for this sensitive topic. She stood up quickly, gathering her garbage and dragged Steve along by holding his arm, remembering to toss her trash into the bins before striding quickly together to the elevators.
----

Steve didn’t really have much of a choice in regards to Nat’s decision to go up to her room. He rubbed his eyes every few moments in the elevators, once he started to find himself in this state it was like he really couldn’t stop which was most of the reason he didn’t get like this.

He remembered that he had only been up to her room a few times before, as Natasha tended to keep her personal rooms private and strictly just herself. It was only once or twice before Steve pretended he didn’t notice when Banner strode in there from time to time the last few months and he had assumed the two finally hit it off.

Steve’s mind wandered off, from one thing to another. Firstly, to Tony being bisexual and how that came out of complete left field. Steve made the assumption that he had a preference for both men and women and seemingly anything in between (he had been informed of this several years ago from multiple people who were hired who were transgender and didn’t identify with either, or neither man or woman). It was something Steve didn’t quite expect, although apparently to others it was remotely obvious. Second, he thought about how this realization of his own sexuality, whatever that was, was questioned. He felt threatened, that a core part of his identity was… different? No longer what he thought he was. Steve thought he was a normal man for the most part, old fashioned of course as he didn’t fit in this particular generation for obvious reasons.

Steve thought to himself over and over as Ms Romanoff had her arm hooked around his, walking side by side to her suite.

Did this make him a homosexual?

Natasha turned abruptly which caused Rogers to stumble (with a quick recovery of course) at her door, clearly because he wasn’t paying mind to where they were going. She used her thumbprint to unlock it to turn the handle, before stepping aside and letting Steve walk through first.

----

James Buchanan Barnes had finally risen for the first time in the morning where the sun was shining. For the last 3 months it mainly consisted of tossing and turning and waking throughout the night at least a few times before giving up entirely. Nightmares usually had haunted his brain and his eye bags were nearly sunken into his face.

But for some odd reason, today- he was free of that. Bucky had slept throughout the whole night and when he had sat up, he had stretched feeling well rested.

He felt a warmth in his chest and it wasn't just from the blue and red fabric robes that he was dressed in. Bucky had a dream, a comforting dream that was sitting behind his eyes before he started his day.

Bucky let his mind drift, dazed but content recalling each moment of his dream while he tucked his sheets back over his mattress. Steve Rogers was on his mind again, a memory of him really, just slightly altered for the dreams sake. He had saved him from torture by the enemy lines, swiftly like a knight in shining stars and stripes. He swallowed, seeming foolish for feeling so elated from just recalling a memory.

But he felt more so embarrassed considering how the dream simply had a little bit more romantic touch to it than Bucky had actually remembered it.

Steve's hand lingered on the side of his jaw, holding him up to make sure he could stand level and balanced before leaning down with his breath hot on his own mouth…

James was sure to snap himself from his fantasy, before it got out of hand. He had a schedule to tend to and before anything else he had to have some water before going on his morning run before breakfast.

----

Natasha kicked off her shoes and sat herself carefully on the other end of the bed where Steve was stationed rather uncomfortably. She sighed as she watched him struggle an internal battle she was definitely unfamiliar with facing- at least personally.

“I was hoping maybe we can talk about whatever is on your mind now, that it's in a more comfortable place. Just me, no one else.” Nat reminded him, placing a pillow on her lap to hold and snuggle with.

“I… don't know what to say.” Steve muttered, though it was obvious that he was buried 10 feet deep in his own thoughts. His tears had ceased the moment he was expected to speak, his eyes stuck in this thousand yard stare.

“You seem a little shocked, Steve.” Nat pressed, making a small smirk to try to earn some sort of smile out of him. Unfortunately it only caused Steve to nod in agreement which made Natasha a tad disappointed in her efforts. “What makes this difficult for you?”

“Well… I think it might be, well everything.” Steve stumbled upon his words, finding anyway to ground himself. He squeezed his palms together trying to shake himself out of this blurry vision he got when he fell into a trigger. “I think I might not have realized that I, well. Must be.” He realized his words sounded like nonsense the more he spoke which caused Steve to hang his head in shame.

“You can… have these feelings about Bucky and still be just Steve, you know.” Natasha said, like it was the most simple statement in the world. “All these labels that this world we live in, gay, straight, bisexual… you really shouldn't worry about all that.”

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, immediately confused.

“It’s just not necessary for some people. Others feel like it's comforting, but if that's what is causing you so much stress, just put that aside.” Natasha started, pulling her hair forward and began to braid it so the little hairs stopped tickling her face. “We can just talk about how you feel about Bucky, if that's easier for you. And the Tony thing. How that made you feel.”

Steve stared at her dumbfounded for a short second before mustering up the words for a response.

“I didn't even realize that I… felt that way for, for Bucky.” Steve said, but he knew in short that it was half of a lie. “But when it was, phrased in a different way, and noticed from someone else… I understand that I'm a bit too overprotective for someone that's just a friend.”

Natasha followed up his response with a face that was in mild disbelief and mixed with a bit of shock. She found it incredulous that a man like Steve who was incredibly observant of other people’s behavior would simply overlook his own entirely- especially when it came to his own emotions. Repressing them? That is what Natasha expected, but being completely oblivious is a whole other ballpark that she found quite remarkable.

“You really didn’t think that for a moment that you could possibly, maybe even the tiniest bit have it out for your best friend you spent several years trying to find?” Natasha paused, taking a breath. “Not with hardly a single break- outside of the whole Ultron situation?”

Steve’s face fell, clear embarrassment flooding his features. He sat there and searched within himself, knowing that there were a few times he considered that he harbored these romantic feelings but they were buried before he had a chance to discover them. Steve knew how he had felt when he was young, that was something so different from how he had felt now. There was something about Bucky when he was younger, a demeanor of sheer confidence he held with women always flirting and dating that he knew there had never been room for Steve to be in his life. Not in any sort of committal or closeness kind of way, that time never allowed that sort of thing but even despite all that Steve was tiny and sick.

Steve reminisced on those times briefly, thinking about what Bucky did to take care of him after his parents had died, leaving him with the small apartment to take care of. Bucky did so much for him but he assumed that was just what a friend was for, even though Steve he had known he didn’t have much to offer physically that hopefully his character would make up for it. Bucky looked like he liked women, strictly women he had never said anything or implied anything that was different at least that’s what Steve had assumed. Did people really think that Bucky held out some feelings for him too? Or was that just something that people had hoped because they could see that unfortunately Steve was showing a hint of desperation?

“I’m sorry, Steve, that was-”

“Right… It’s true.” Steve interjected, with a short sigh. “I might have, well I always knew. But I just never saw it as relevant. I was never going to… explore it.” Steve’s eyes hardly caught Natasha’s as he spoke as he wasn’t sure how he got the courage to even admit it in the first place. “It just never was important. Honestly, it still isn’t.”

“If it’s not important, how would you feel to know that you now have access to visit Barnes?” Natasha asked, arching an eyebrow. She always had a knack for waiting for just the right timing.

“Visitation? The airspace allowing visitation? I thought-”

“They’ve made an exception.”

Chapter Text

Bucky had a routine because he wanted it and even more so he needed it more than ever. He had a strict regime that consisted of a daily run, a meal, various household tasks that also consisted of various farming as most crops were things he was able to tend to on his own. He lived outside of the main cities in Wakanda and away from most of the technological advances that the cities had to offer. Unfortunately this wasn’t by choice, this was by agreements that were made outside of his ability to have any form of bodily autonomy.

If James wanted to live and not simply just rot in a jail cell in the United States, he was to be settled into this simple way of life. Though in many ways he was grateful. For instance he still had a semblance of privacy as he had a small hut, or maybe was it a cabin? He still wasn’t quite sure as he was thankful it still had running water. Though he didn’t have much of a stove- it was a gas stove and it required a little tender love and care. From time to time the stove needed to be lit and finagled in such a way that needed a person with patience and dedication. Bucky eventually became that person, though it frustrated him a lot at first. Now it started to become easier and easier.

Bucky was also given many robes and towels, all of his former clothes with buckles and zippers and metals were removed. Everything had to be easy to tie as he would only be using one arm. Even though his arm was broken and since long removed in his years of being a HYDRA pawn… he had always had two hands to hold things. It took some time to get used to.

It had been 3 months, two weeks and 3 days since he had been out of cryofreeze. This was a decision that Bucky felt he had to make because he didn’t trust his own mind and at times he still didn’t. Though Bucky had been mindful of how thankful he had been with all the therapy he had been put through with the help of the wonderful warrior women of Wakanda- Oyoke, especially more than anything; had helped him to recover. Eventually James was able to have his trigger words spoken clearly and he could proudly withstand it without succumbing to their control.

This was about 3 weeks and 2 days ago, actually.

Bucky had been walking and for a few moments catching his breath before arriving back at his hut after some cardio and exercise. He opened the door to his home, a man on a mission to make himself some eggs and toast when he was stumped to see an envelope sitting in the center of his tiny wooden kitchenette and chair. Bucky thought for a moment to ignore it and continue on whatever he was doing, but his curiosity got the best of him and before he knew it he was slowly ripping open the seal and unfolding the paper within.

It read in graphite pencil-

Hey Buck,

I hope you’re doing well. I know you’ve been healing, very busy. I'm sure you are doing anything that you are capable of to feel more like yourself again. And whatever that is, I support that more than anything.

I hope that we can talk face to face again soon. It’s been about 3 weeks since we last spoke and I have news. T’Challa and his royal family have granted a pardon to allow me visitation if that is something you want to do. I figure you might be lonely because you have talked about your living situation and I would want to see how you’re doing. Just let me know when and I’m there, pal.

You’ve done so much for my whole life, let me repay the favor. I’m with you till the end of the line. That line doesn’t end here, I promise.

-Steve

Bucky held the paper out for a moment or two, re-reading what was written a few times, then set the paper down gently on the table. He considered for a moment to return to making his breakfast as his stomach was making an urgent plea to ignore whatever else that was preceding these turn of events, but his heart however stuttered for a second.

Bucky was smart, he knew that if he was receiving this letter, this piece of mail- (he had never received mail ever, he had never even got a letter from Okoye or T’Challa, Shuri or anyone ever) that this had meant something. That this was real, that the Wakandan Royal family was allowing him more freedoms such as this and the way they felt would make Bucky most comfortable was to have Steve share this piece of information with him. He felt exhilarated, a rush of excitement coursed through him and that was definitely something he hadn’t felt in only God knows how long. Though it was shortly interrupted when he had heard a short and brief knock at his door before it had opened without admittance.

Although Okoye did not need any greeting of admittance as she let herself inside as she had fought for James’ life and for the protection of it.

Okoye was standing tall, her spear in hand and just typical of her without a hint of expression on her face. Okoye of course was adorned in her usual garments of red, orange and tan, clearly designed to be movable and breathable to be used in battle. On top of that she was also wearing her golden neck pieces and golden armor to represent her leadership role in the Dora Milaje. What she wore sounded very clearly as to the kind of person she stood for. Fierce, loud and vibrant and most certainly afraid of no one. In another light it also represented the warmth she had buried beneath all that, that she cared very deeply but just that she was a hardass in the ways in which she was able to show it. Fortunately, Bucky had reluctantly seen that side of her and understood her and the two had established a relationship with each other where they could find to be a bit less formal. Well- at least on Bucky’s side of things.

“Hello, to you too.” Bucky greeted, mildly sarcastically. He was used to the Wakandans and their pleasantries but it was always a little unsettling at how much power these warrior women had held in their presence.

“Steve Rogers only, has passage for visitation. Your… friend.” Okoye sounded displeased, though leaving room for interpretation in that very direct pause.

James just stared for a moment, knowing now he was being monitored on his way back in the door to time it in such a way for him to read the letter. He should have known, but for once he had felt like he didn’t need to look over his own shoulder. He sighed, merely nodding in response to her statement, deciding to shove off to the kitchen like he had intended to moments before.

“Shall I encourage him to join you for a week's time?” Okoye asked, a hint of pressure in her voice clearly persistent on an answer right away.

Bucky cracked an egg over the cast iron skillet he was currently heating up with butter, hanging his head. He pursed his lips, the pause in her infliction around Steve’s name had bothered him knowing she had made assumptions about Steve already without even knowing the man. Bucky knew Okoye was entitled to think and feel however she liked regarding Steve; especially because it was a man that Bucky had spoken so highly of. Bucky had inferred that Okoye knew he had become infatuated with Steve but didn’t know it was for the right reasons. Even though James knew that these feelings were fair as anyone should truly know someone like Steve that they would feel the same, despite how sorely stupid Steve could be. Bucky would always defend Steve, no matter how it made him look so it always rubbed him the wrong way when people would think of him in a harsh light.

“If Steve agrees, then yes.” Bucky replied sharply, still avoiding much eye contact with her even though he still held Okoye in such a high regard as well. He still owed her his life, even though it didn’t mean that much to James still. He took a short breath, finding in it himself to be patient with her. With spatula in hand, he finally turns to meet her gaze. “Thank you.”

“Very well.” Okoye gave one of the smallest of Mona Lisa-like smiles. “I will return when I get an answer.” Before Bucky could muster a response, she had turned heel and left without a word.

----

It had been several days since that one conversation where Tony had attempted at being comforting towards Steve in the training room and he hadn’t seen Cap much since. Tony was aware from Romanoff that they had gone on a mission together and he made sure to pull her aside to explain the situation and hopefully she was able to remedy some of it by smoothing it over with him.

Tony yet again found another project to busy himself over since spending most of his time worrying about “How to be a good friend” for dummies wasn’t working over well. Especially considering it didn’t have a chapter in it regarding being friends with an old chap from the 1940s with raging internalized homophobia.

The project Tony found himself busying himself over was generated therapy essentially, but reliving certain moments in time to help move on from certain events. Obviously this was inspired by numerous reasons in his own life but he thought it would be a start to help benefit the rest of society as well. While he was doing that, he yet again found his mind lingering over what he could potentially be doing to help out Steve considering he’d done so much recently to piss him off. Tony was still hopefully looking to undo that as it weighed very heavily on his conscience making it very difficult to work on something therapeutic.

That is until very lucky timing he heard a familiar clicking of heels against the marbled flooring. Tony pulled away from what he was doing, the wheels in his spinny chair sending him flooding over in Pepper Potts direction.

“I’m just here to remind you of your meeting 3 days from now with the board of directors on Rhodey’s new suit…” Pepper paused, backing away from Tony’s sudden approach.

“Mm, yes that. Forgot, again.” Tony lazily replied, swinging his arms around her waist trying to clearly distract her from her work. “Why don’t we take offa a few hours, maybe… grab- lunch?”

“Sure, that’s what you want?” Pepper rolled her eyes, knowing ‘lunch’ wasn’t all he was implying. Potts knew Tony well, he loved to sit and work endlessly for hours and it was impossible to usually pull him away from a project. Tony only would run away to goof off only when he was trying to avoid something, or that something was bothering him. Usually those things were weaved together. “What’s the matter, hm?”

“No, no nothing… I'm just famished.” Tony murmured, trying to sneak in a quick kiss in between words. He managed to sneak in one before Pepper freed herself from his grip to give him a look of concern.

“I know you.” Pepper replied, in a way that Tony perceived as menacing. In reality it was quite soft and kind, with just a tad bit of pressure. “What’s the matter? Is this about Rogers?”

Tony sighed, walking away and flopped back into his spinny chair. He was irritated clearly that she read him so well, although only mildly because he wasn’t sure if anyone had seen right through him quite like she had. Tony glanced over at the written documents that were (surprisingly) stacked on his desk regarding Barnes relocation to Wakandan territory with “UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE” printed directly on the top of the page. It had been staring him for months and he had yet to file it away because of multiple reasons.

Tony had honestly believed this was the right thing to do, of course he harbored this anger and insurmountable pain knowing that this was technically the very man that killed his parents. He thought about that weekly still in his therapy sessions. He had yet to work that all out, but he also had done so much research on Barnes' file. Where he grew up, where he was stationed, what torment he went through under HYDRA’s regime. Tony reminded himself of that frequently. Then he thought of Steve and he had empathy for him. He grew up with the guy, went to war with him and saved him. Multiple times. I mean Tony didn’t know everything but he knew enough that Steve loved this man like a LOT. Even though Steve was his father’s biggest success and all he talked about was Captain America, he had to assume that Tony knew Steve better than his father ever will. Did Tony and Steve butt heads? Yes. Was it pretty frequently? Definitely. But Tony understood him, despite having so many differences. He’d learn to put so much past him.

Steve had been miserable for a while, Tony started to notice. It wasn’t just the occasional thousand yard stare of reminiscing a time long forgotten either. It was a type of misery where you have done everything you could do, but it didn’t feel like it was enough. Like that feeling where you weren’t enough. Tony hated to see that feeling because he had blamed himself for a lot, he harbored those types of emotions as long as he could remember. About a lot of things. Some in which honestly had made complete sense to have those feelings towards.

Tony felt like he had to do something. He wasn’t sure what, he had yet to sort the pieces of the puzzle to form the right picture but he just knew he had tools to do something. He couldn’t exactly get Bucky out of Wakanda, that was like not an option.

“Hello? Earth to Stark?” Pepper repeated, clearly awaiting a response out of him.

“Yes. Sorry. Yep. About Rogers.” Tony decided disagreeing would just lead to further pestering although it didn’t quite stop his frequent train of thought.

“I see. It’s unfortunate the whole situation.” Pepper replied, unsure 100% what Tony was upset about regarding Rogers but assumed it had to do with the conversation that she was informed about during the night of their little argument. “It makes sense though that he was upset, I remember we talked about that.”

“I know, I know…” Tony said, his mind still wandering, not invested truly in the conversation.

“Have you considered maybe that Steve should go see Barnes?” Pepper asked, squeezing the clipboard of papers she was holding that Tony hardly noticed she had this entire time.

“Can’t fly over Wakandan airspace. Doesn’t allow the U.S. Military past certain borders.” Tony murmured, trying to not sound mildly irritated because clearly he had thought of this before.

“Private jet maybe?” Pepper persisted. “You could always ask. Call them up? A favor maybe?”

Tony’s eyes had nearly just popped right out his head if he hadn’t been staring at Potts to fixate them on something.

“What? I don’t know if that would even work, just a suggestion… Anyways, did you want me to order takeout? You kept mentioning lunch-”

“I’m so stupid. Hilariously stupid. Why didn’t I think of that? Pepper, a genius, thank you. I’ll just sweet talk ‘em and pull a few strings, see what I can do.” Tony rambled on and gave her a kiss before swiping up his hologram screens to start a video call with some people Pepper was unfamiliar with.

“Okay? Did you want pizza?” Pepper asked, raising an eyebrow somewhat confused.

“Sure, sure whatever you want honey.” Tony replied, his attention directed toward his task at hand clearly lunch and being hungry was long forgotten.

“Psh, okay…” Pepper sighed, shaking her head and clicked her headpiece having his favorite pizza place on speed dial.

---

Steve was lying down on his mattress and although being in a comfortable bed had gotten better it was definitely going to become one of those nights where he would sleep on the floor.

It had been a day since that long and awkward conversation that he had with Natasha and it was weighing on his mind. Especially since he was told that Steve had very recently been given permission to visit Bucky and able to board one of Stark's private jets through Wakandan airspace.

Steve had been trying to track down Tony most of the day today but found him to no avail. He had been busy with whatever he was busy with. Projects, meetings, whatever. Steve was confused because he just wanted to thank him, more than anything especially since they hadn't been talking since his embarrassing encounter. He wanted to apologize to him for his crass behavior because he knew it was just an over reaction. It seemed like Tony was avoiding him and now it was driving Steve to be unable to sleep.

Steve tossed and turned for a good 20 minutes longer, making his greatest efforts to get comfortable. He even put a pillow over his head to block out any light, even though there was hardly even a small beam of light in the room at all. Just a small shine of light that came from underneath his bedroom door that came from the kitchen that he always left on purpose so he could see if someone approached his bedroom. Which in retrospect Steve himself found silly because he always woke up and heard them before someone's shoes showed from under the door.

Steve debated seeing if Tony was awake and if he could potentially just explain himself, say thank you and then he would be able to just go to bed. On one hand it was 10:30 pm so it was starting to hit lower in the evening and he didn't want to possibly interrupt anything private that could be going on between Tony and Pepper. On the other hand Tony could simply be tinkering with something in his office that he didn't quit with yet. Steve went back and forth for a moment and decided he would take his chances because otherwise he wasn't going to get any rest.

He shot out of bed, making sure to slide on a t-shirt but not bothering to change out of his pajama bottoms. Steve also slid on some slippers, feeling sheepish for being indecent as he locked his door. He walked down the hallways trying best to just not think of it as Steve decided to head down to his office to see if Tony was there first.

Steve considered for a moment to use the elevator but he quickly imagined someone potentially in there questioning him in his pj's and took the stairs. He knew Tony's office was on the 9th floor, which wasn't that high considering he was on the 6th floor. A few floors wasn't too much work for him.

His mind geared suddenly on what the hell he was doing, realizing that he would potentially share what he was forced to say to Romanoff. Well, not forced but heavily persuaded. Steve would just have to say how he felt for Bucky as it made sense as to why he became so flustered and upset with Tony days before. The very thought made Steve want to stop in his tracks and just dash back to his room.

Instantly he felt sweaty, like he was running and his heart was pounding from impact. Although he wasn't doing that much physical exercise. Steve thought about what he would say, recalling exact statements he had said to Nat.

It can't be that hard. You've said it already!

Steve ran through the script in his head, imagining that Tony would be okay with everything. Of course he would. He had to be, he had suspected it. Steve knew it would be hard to say with confidence initially. It felt like there were a ton of bricks on his chest, this humiliation, like he was in deep shit. Or worse. Like he was a little kid and in trouble with his mother.

Though he reminded himself that he wasn't in any trouble, when he finally reached the last stair.

Chapter Text

Tony could feel like someone had his eyes on him even with his back turned. That was typical considering the PTSD. He decided to look through the reflection of his monitors before turning around to get a glimpse of who was spying on him and it was none other than Cap that stood there uncertain about his next move. This was unlike Rogers, as he had a plan every step of the way as that was his job. Though Tony wasn’t completely oblivious, as he had an idea or two why he was here and awkwardly shifting back and forth in his jammies.

“What’s up, Rogers?” Tony asked, still yet to turn around as he was finishing up a sketch on Rhodey’s new suit that he was supposed to have updated and shown by Friday. He had only 2 days to construct it which shouldn’t be a big deal if he just worked overtime. Tony made the mistake of forgetting about it when he was busying himself with the Steve issue.

“Oh, hi Tony.” Steve paused, still yet to move even a foot closer to Tony working. “This a bad time?”

“So considerate of you. Everytime is a bad time when I don’t know how to manage a schedule.” Tony said, dryly then patted the secondary spinny chair he had when Banner usually came to work with him on something. Or special occasions like this one. “Have a seat. What’s on your mind, old man?”

Steve chuckled, politely and shuffled over, parking himself in the seat Tony suggested him to. Steve took a breath, folded his hands together and fiddled with his fingers, his nerves acting up on him once more.

“I just wanted to thank you for, well the jet. Nat told me what you did.” Steve started, noticing that Tony was still going to be working while having this conversation. Steve wasn’t sure what he was doing but all he could see was that he was dragging his fingers across the monitor to sketch something out, possibly looking like a new iron man suit. This actually helped as he wasn’t forced to look at Tony and hopefully witness how anxious Steve was about it.

“Don’t sweat it. Wasn’t a big deal. Pepper’s idea on top of it actually.” Tony replied nonchalantly. Tony had a habit of doing that when parts of conversation got a bit too sappy. It just felt a bit too much. “But yeah, uh course.” Tony added, making sure to at least be respectful remembering old fashioned customs for him.

“Oh. I thank Pepper too then.” Steve muttered, then grew silent for a moment or two. Steve looked down at his hands, everything he planned on saying seemingly fell away from him like sand slipping between your fingers.

Tony peeked over at Steve from the corner of his eye, observing how withdrawn he looked. It made Tony pity the man, but he knew he was just as awkward at vulnerable conversations even if it wasn’t in the way he was. Tony always found a way to land an inappropriate joke that was ill fitting to the moment and/or finding tragic things funny when it surely wasn’t. He knew it was a conditioned trauma response but it never worked well around Steve. He was a serious man, and Tony was well aware of this. Tony sighed, peeling off his blue light glasses he actually decided to put on for once. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he pulls away from his work to look over at Steve.

“I am flattered by your gratefulness, is that why you came all the way down here at oh-” Tony paused, lifting up his watch to see the time. “10:57 at night?”

Steve blinked like a deer in headlights, hung his head then ran his hand through his hair before standing up like he was going to flee.

“No, not this again. I’m sorry! I’m not the best with… attempts of vulnerability.” Tony confessed, although knew this statement to be quite obvious. “Please. We can talk. Even if it becomes all weird and mushy. You just gotta be okay with my uncomfortable streams of humor to counter it.”

“Alright, fine. I’m sorry too.” Steve admitted, sitting back down again quietly. “I… opened up with Natasha on some things, realized… A lot after our conversation in the training room.”

Tony tried not to smile, or smirk even the tiniest bit even though he was fighting with every muscle around his mouth to do so. Tony leaned forward placing an elbow on his desk and a closed hand around his mouth and nodded, focusing on the reaction in his face and just listened. Even though Tony knew exactly where this conversation was going. Steve swallowed and continued.

“Well, you… I hate to admit it-” Steve paused, rolling his eyes just a tad. “Were right about Bucky… mainly just how I feel. It does look a bit strange.” Steve’s eyes could hardly meet Tony’s face simply because it was too honest to be admitting aloud. “So that was the reason for my behavior. I was embarrassed and I apologize for taking that out on you. That was weighing on me, that’s all I wanted to say. I can leave you back to whatever you were doing before.”

“Apology received and accepted.” Tony removed the hand from his face, a very tiny smug look became revealed as he simply couldn’t help it. “Honestly, I should head off to bed. I’ve got a lot to think about now.”

“What do you mean by that?” Steve replied, a bit of sass rolling off his tongue.

“I’m right, like when does Steve Rogers’ say something like that? Insane.” Tony snickered, raising his hands and began organizing the respective files on his monitors back into their assigned folders.

“Shut up.” Steve smiled, shaking his head. Waves of his anxiety started to ripple away and was simply replaced with a flushed face and a bit of sweaty palms.

“Alright, alright… Let’s shove out of here. Taking the elevator?” Tony asked, walking off with Steve right behind him.

“That works. 6th floor.” Steve reminded Tony, walking in stride together down the muted beige and green hallways.

The marbled floor echoed Tony’s soft squeaks to his shoes and the shuffling of Steve’s fuzzy grey slippers. Once they approached the silver elevator’s Tony hit the arrow pointed down before Steve got the chance and the two awkwardly stood together waiting for one of the 4 elevators to open up. Almost instantly the empty elevator in front of them had opened which wasn’t surprising considering how late it was. Tony strode in first, Steve following shortly after.

“I have a question for you.” Tony stated, which broke the somewhat comfortable silence the two of them shared after they selected their respective floors. Steve replied with a quick “Hmm?”, in which Tony decidedly continued. “Are you going to tell Barnes? Ask him out to dinner and dancing or whatever.”

Steve chuckled instantly to the suggestion as he thought the idea was absurd when it was brought up with Natasha. Even though she gave slight pressure to the idea that Bucky could possibly feel the same way and to take the risk. Steve felt his heart race just thinking about it, he knew he must’ve looked like a giddy school girl with how red he neck and cheeks were from blushing. The idea of it sounded terrifying but oddly thrilling if maybe Bucky did say yes. What then?

“Oh, I don’t know…” Steve murmured, still unsure and honestly a bit shy about Tony's blunt nature of the question. The elevator door opens to the 7th floor, Tony’s departure and he walks out but holds the door first to look at Steve.

“Think about it! Two super soldiers, super strength and most of all shared life experience. What’s Barnes not gonna like?” Tony persuaded, then tapped the elevator door a couple times before turning on his heel and waving before the door shut on him. It left Steve to ponder on that thought quite a lot that very night.

---

It had been about a week since the chat that Steve and Tony shared. Steve had begun to pack for his trip the morning of. It would be a long flight with a break in the middle (for Tony’s jet to refuel), about 17 hours total. Tony and Steve decided on a time and day of the departure and when he would be picked up. Steve would be staying there for exactly one week, arriving on Monday morning and leaving Monday night the following week. Today was Sunday morning at around 8 am and Tony, Nat and Steve were going to grab breakfast before Steve would be departing for his trip.

It had been Steve’s idea, Tony wasn’t exactly the most thrilled about the early start but Tony ended up negotiating for 8 am because the time originally was gonna be 7. Neither Nat nor Steve minded to get up that early for a breakfast outing as the two always slept a solid 6 hours a night and consistently were up for almost all sunrises. Tony however chose to stay up most nights and sleep away the day time if he were allowed to.

The three of them ended up deciding to meet at Tony’s suite at nearly one of the highest floors of his building where he had hired a chef to make some traditional breakfast food requests, like eggs benedict, pancakes, waffles, etc. Tony didn’t think anything of it, though Steve was partial to just going out to a restaurant, Tony and Nat convinced him that this would take less time waiting on a table. Steve of course argued that they could get a reservation, in which Steve was unfortunately ignored.

Natasha and Steve met up in the elevator uniquely at the same time, (which of course wasn’t planned which made it all the more amusing) the two of them chuckled at each of their own timeliness. Steve dressed very casually which was unlike him, although made sense considering afterwards he would be stuck on a flight alone for quite some time. He was wearing joggers and sneakers and a t-shirt with matching sweatpants. Natasha, not paying any notice to his attire wore a simple pair of jeans and a blouse although nothing special, just black. Her hair was simply tucked away in a loose ponytail and a few tendrils slipped forward.

“So… hopefully you’re hungry.” Natasha commented, in which Steve chuckled in response as the two awaited the elevator door to open for their floor.

“A bit. Although not as much as normal.” Steve admitted, knowing it was his nerves getting the best of him. Natasha patted his back then rubbed it in a soothing nature for a moment.

“I’m sure he’ll send you a doggie bag if you can’t finish it.” Natasha teased, although in her tone probably had a note of sincerity in it. Tony did occasionally have a mothering quality to him, although it was more of a drunk aunt in Natasha’s opinion.

The elevator doors swing open right inside Tony’s dining room/kitchen space. The room was huge as it had an open floor concept with yet again the black marble flooring and on the right side the wall was completely replaced with windows allowing the natural lighting to spill in. Right now it was as if the windows were slightly tinted to change the amount of light to pour in as it got quite bright while it was rising, currently with pinks and oranges. Steve redirected his attention to in front of him where there was a long mahogany table with a white table cloth covering with a unique and modern chandelier hanging a few feet from the ceiling.

Steve had hardly noticed that Natasha had pushed right past him and had already sat herself. Clearly she had been up here before and this wasn’t as new to her as it was to him. Tony and Steve had more of a professional relationship so this was a bit out of the ordinary. Especially the gift of using the private jet which was still up in the air (at least in Steve’s mind) on how he would be able to repay him. He joined Nat at the dining room table directly next to her, the other 7 chairs looking a bit too far apart from each other.

“Tony said he’d be down in a second, he’s a bit behind schedule as usual.” Natasha shared as she looked down at the message that displayed on her watch. Steve just nodded in understanding as he observed more of the room, his eyes planting on the chef standing idly in the kitchen as if he was frozen staring in the distance.

“Is that…?” Steve hesitated, not even quite sure what he was asking although knew his confusion regarding the chef.

“Yes. Not sure why Fernando meditates like that. But I’ve spoken to him plenty of times, he apparently just meditates silently without blinking a lot. That it relaxes him, he says.” Natasha explains, not paying much mind to it and scrolls again at something on her watch.

“Ah, I see.” Steve replied, being mindful to ignore it as well though at first he might have found it a tad difficult. That is until Tony appears from around the corner behind the stainless steel kitchen with a graphic tee and some jeans.

“Hey Captain, are you excited, nervous?” Tony asked, walking behind his kitchen counter and picked up 3 large pieces of paper. This woke Steve from whatever day dream he was having and awkwardly nodded before realizing what he had actually asked him.

“Oh, um it will be fine.” Steve replied with a smile trying his best to show how thankful he is. Steve thought to himself about how nervous he actually was, although it had nothing to do with the flight or the long travel. It was everything to do with what he would do once he got there. “Thank you again.”

“Oh no, Tony isn’t gonna like that. He hates mushy.” Natasha reminds him, making a pointed look over at Stark who had finally approached the table plopping down pieces of laminated cardstock that actually looked like menus. Natasha picked one up without even questioning it and perused.
“I wanted to make sure Steve really got his restaurant experience.” Tony teased and handed over a menu over to Steve which he took then shook his head in mild annoyance. Tony sat and adjusted himself gazing down at the menu like he was actually actively trying to decide what he wanted. Steve thought that if Tony had made these last minute decisions to make the menus that he could have certainly had his mind made up on what he was going to eat. He assumed that Tony was obviously playing this bit up for some added amusement, although he wasn’t sure who it was for.

“Very funny.” Steve sighed in playful annoyance.

“Thanks, Rogers I try just for you.” Tony smiled and shared almost a secret look with Nat who must have been clearly in on this. “So what are you guys having? I’m sure the waiter will be here to greet us very soon.”

“Hello. What are we having?” Vision who appeared seamlessly out of nowhere arrived at the foot of the table.

“Speak of the devil.” Tony muttered under his breath. “Vis- give us a few minutes to peruse the menus. I think you came a bit too early, although a nice job bud as a first time waiter!”

Vision hovered with little emotion shown on his features besides confusion, which was a daily occurrence although lingered with amicable energy. Clearly he had not been quite sure of his task but his determination had shown.

“Apologies. Good luck today, Steve.” Vision voiced with sincerity before he disappeared again without a moment’s notice. Before Vision probably heard anything, Steve quickly replied with a “thank you”.

“I don’t know about you fellas, but I think I’m gonna go with the benedict.” Natasha smirked, peeking from behind her one menu sheet.

“Avocado toast? Pancake special? Tony you didn't have to go through all this trouble…” Steve’s old fashioned worry expressed all over his face, he clearly did not like people going through all this effort to give him special attention in any form.

“It’s nothing! An average day for me, promise.” Tony exaggerated greatly, then placed his menu down and just like Steve had assumed he had everything decided.

“Might as well enjoy it Steve, not like you have much of a choice.” Natasha chuckled, following suit with Tony and placed down her menu.

Steve sighed, finally deciding to accept his fate and began to choose his meal, looking through each option. Though it was difficult for a moment or two as Tony had at least twelve. It was just breakfast, he didn’t see the need to make such a big fuss. Steve settled on a cinnamon oatmeal, with a fruit assortment option as it was the easiest and the lightest considering the travel. He also just assumed he might nap on the flight as he hadn’t slept much at all the night prior although thankfully, no one had noticed. Steve obviously did, his eye bags were prominent but he was thankful that with the help of Natasha many moons ago, she had got him on some facial moisturizers and such. One of the lotions or creams went underneath the eye and helped some of the puffiness go down this morning and maybe that was what was doing the trick.

“I’m horribly curious about what you two old men are going to spend your time doing.” Tony mentioned, then let out an audible sound of pain. For a moment it startled Steve until he had realized that Natasha had kicked him from underneath the table and the two had exchanged a look that Steve didn’t quite register.

“That’s a little too intense I think for Rogers’ style.” Natasha replied, meeting Steve’s uncertain gaze.

“I’m not sure what you two are talking about…” Steve muttered, then acknowledged Vison’s presence immediately reaching over people to set down glasses of water beside each person.

“I am supposed to have your choice of meal and drink, per Wanda and the chef's requests.” Vision explained, in which Tony shook his head knowing something like this would happen.

“Alright, alright… I’ll do the french toast, and give me a Mimosa.” Tony stated, handing over his menu in which Vision collected it.

“Mimosa sounds good, although I’ll have the benedict.” Natasha replied, Vis accepting the menu in hand with a nod. “Although, tell Wanda thank you again.”

“Will do. And you, Rogers?”

“Wanda is in on this too? Wow. Tell her I thank her as well. Just the oatmeal, with whatever it comes with. Oh, and a black coffee. Thank you.” Steve requests, a surprised look adorned his face. Heat rose as all this appreciation almost overwhelmed him, as nothing had been done for him like this in the past.

“I will alert the chef’s and be back with your drinks momentarily.” Vision answered, disappearing once again.

“But, I just can’t be so sure… How can you be so sure it isn’t Rogers’ style? Steve’s so private, he could be hiding a few tricks up his sleeve we hardly know anything about.” Tony leaned in, redirecting everyone back to the original point in conversation. The wheels in Steve’s head had finally turned and it had clicked to recall what they really were insinuating moments prior.

“I’ve kissed Steve, he’s definitely more of a tender shy lover type than anything else. No offense.” Natasha answered, but made sure to glance over to Steve whose facial expression appeared that he quite rightfully had taken offense.

“Offense taken. It was unexpected! I wasn’t-” Steve defended.

“Prepared?” Tony cocked an eyebrow. Steve hardly met his gaze, his neck had felt prickly and hot. He should have guessed that he would have been teased on or about his interests and lack thereof experience.

“Yes.” Steve snapped, although it was noted quickly in his mournful face that he hadn’t intended it. The other two silenced, as if unconsciously knew it had been taken too far. “I’d rather not discuss that aspect of my love life, or lack of one.” Steve muttered, then ran a hand nervously through his newly clean cut hair. He had made note to get a haircut yesterday so he’d feel his best before leaving.

“We didn’t mean to upset you, we’re just happy for you is all.” Natasha mentioned, briefly placing a hand over his which Steve reluctantly took in comfort.

“Agreed. I just didn’t expect this one. Thought you’d choose to be alone forever. But now I can see why you were holding out for a special someone.” Tony drew on, to Steve’s surprise, highly intrigued in his life.

“Thank you both but… I’m not sure I’m going to tell him.” Steve admitted, not sure why the two of them had assumed that he would.

Noiselessly, Vision floated over and delivered their drinks. Each was placed delicately beside each person, besides Tony which took from Vis’s hand and took a large sip from.

“Look what I said to you in the elevator was out of politeness- you’ve got to tell the man.” Tony pressed, in which Steve was shocked.

“I can’t just do that, Tony!” Steve whispered harshly, as his heart hammered in his chest. A sudden fear grew that someone had overheard and he wasn’t sure what someone would think or do.

“Tony, stop it.” Natasha announced, her tone sharp but threatening. Her exterior showed her nothing but calm, idly taking a short sip of her Mimosa. “Steve can do exactly what he wishes. Pressuring him to admit something like that is surely not going to make this… easier.”

“What do you mean by easier?” Steve queried, not really sure what behind the scenes conversation between the two of them had taken place that he didn’t understand.

“We’ll tell you when you’re older-” Tony smirked, in which he earned another swift kick from under the table. “I’m most definitely sending you my medical bill, Romanoff.”
Natasha gave a pointed look, then promptly rolled her eyes before gazing at Steve who she could see was clearly agitated. She folded her hands, sighing and shaking her head before giving Steve proper attention.

“We just spoke to each other about your trip. Tony and I are hoping the two of you come out with this, um… well, hand in hand I suppose. Together, admittedly.” Natasha confessed, a small smile pursed her lips before they returned to her Mimosa flute.

Steve stared openly at both Tony and Natasha trying a bit to not look as surprised as he was by all this but he knew it was hopeless. This was the last thing he had assumed to take place this morning, even if they had both admitted to him in private about subtly being supportive of being honest about his feelings towards Barnes. Steve just simply didn’t expect a public spectacle between the 3 of them discussing it like it was an option in a game show. Though he knew Tony, he knew he liked to make a commotion of events or celebrations and such. Steve just didn’t expect that this was much of a celebration but more of an opportunity for Steve to show more of his gratitude towards Tony and his team of friends to make all of this possible.

“Well, thank you for all of this. Just having the ability to see how he is doing is enough, the opportunity I mean. I’m grateful.” Steve redirected the conversation, in which he undoubtedly noticed the two of them showed mild disappointment.

It wasn’t shortly after that, that their meals had all uniquely arrived. Everyone ate mostly silent, with the occasional comment here and there. The three shared a comfortable meal, with mild conversation the rest of the way. Steve stayed in his mind, drifting to possibilities of what he would do when he went to go see Bucky. So, when it looked like just the two of them, (Natasha and Tony) walked him off to the top floor of the building to the jet, Steve wasn’t expecting a whole crew of people giving his best wishes before he left. Sam, Wanda, Vision, Tony and Nat of course… even Nick showed up for his departure.

Steve made sure to appropriately say goodbye to everyone, which made the whole thing feel silly as he would only be gone a week. But thankfully with free time to ponder on the flight, he considered it was probably the first vacation he had ever taken outside of being asleep for 70 years… so maybe it was something to make a big fuss over. It certainly wasn’t the only thing he considered and reluctantly began to revisit the same dilemma he had over the past week. Steve knew he didn’t have much time if he were going to make up his mind, that is if he was going to take the risk and confess, or if he was going to keep it inside himself until he died.

Chapter Text

Bucky received a letter on his kitchenette table for the second time when he returned from his run this morning. It had been a week since he had got the first letter from Steve that he was interested in visiting, so he assumed it had to do with the follow up to that. Bucky listened around carefully for a moment to hear if someone approached or had been spying and thankfully this time was met with familiar silence. Then he pressed the letter back to the table, carefully managing to rip it to read its contents.

The paper was lavender with writing that was typed by a computer and printed.

Steve will be arriving today at sundown. He will be escorted to your hut, with his few belongings.

The letter wasn’t signed by their writer, but he had assumed it had to be Okoye by the lack of personality. He placed the letter back onto the table and gazed around the room, briefly. Intuitively he began to notice little things different about the way the hut had appeared. His countertops were cleared, organized a bit differently on the surface from how he had left it. His eyes scanned the room further to his den/living area and he had a rich brown coffee table that he was well aware wasn’t there prior. It had several board games and books stored underneath it and a candle with matches in the very center of the table.

Bucky treaded lightly to investigate further. He had a small entertainment center with a television that must have been installed and a few movies underneath it. Bucky sank to the ground to see within the shelves underneath the television was a booklet that read ‘HOW TO USE’, across the front which he could only assume was instructions on the usage of the technology surrounding the television. He flipped through briefly to see most of it used pictures, in which he rolled his eyes at how kid friendly it looked.

His sofa had been replaced with what appears to be a slightly bigger one and a booklet laid on the middle cushion that Bucky flipped through the first page and saw that this had the ability to shift into a makeshift bed. He had known this would be for Steve while he stayed. Bucky continued to look further, noticing not much had changed from his bedroom initially from just noticing a pair of sheets until he sat on the bed briefly and felt that it was firmer, most definitely a different material that was far more comfortable.

His bathroom seemed the same as he trekked further among his residence, noticing new supplies as he went through his cabinets to see more luxurious shampoos, conditioners and soaps. That is until he opened behind the mirror to the medicine cabinet. Usually there was limited medicine in there which James had known to be to protect himself if he were to get to a low point and make himself sick. But there had been a large bottle of clear viscous liquid that Bucky picked up and thought was incredibly odd. It seemed that there initially was a label on the bottle that had been ripped off because it left a slightly sticky coating to the outside and had been relabeled in a printed font ‘Lubricant’.

Bucky quickly tossed the bottle back onto its respective shelf, nearly slamming the cabinet door shut. He wasn’t born yesterday and the implications of him receiving this was definitely just crazy. He attempted to not think anything of it and move on with his day knowing he had to make himself some breakfast as yet again he had come back from his run. He decided though that he was in the bathroom and that he had been given new soaps and shampoos that he should shower first, especially that Steve would be arriving in what he had assumed 6 hours or so.

Bucky turned the dials for the hot water, allowing the water to run its course for a moment or two while he had begun to get undressed. The water always took a moment before it got steamy, which he was more than thankful for as hot water for a shower was just the most soothing for him. Once the water got to the perfect temperature he stepped in. The shower head was thankfully high, the water landing on his head and soaking him fully. He rubbed his face as he found himself thinking of Steve and how he actually would be here with him for a week.

He wasn’t surprised by the fact that Steve would have said yes and would have made time to be here right away. Steve was a worrier and Bucky knew about all the attempts to speak to him a lot more frequently. He just didn’t see the reason why Steve would go to all the trouble. Well- that part was a lie. Bucky knew Steve probably more than he knew himself at times. Steve likely felt indebted to care for him but Bucky didn’t feel similarly. It was no one’s fault that Bucky turned out alive after what had happened to him.

The thing that was shocking was the gifts from the Wakandan people, updating his residence in his absence. Obviously, that meant that Bucky was more than trustworthy to earn this. Bucky smiled thinking about the board games and television and thought how that was a nice touch to make it easier to entertain Steve while he was here. The thought of trying to find things to do was something that made his heart race. Bucky didn’t want to make this an uncomfortable experience, especially because it wasn’t like this was a vacation suite like a beach resort.

Bucky was pretty much landlocked, no beach anywhere in miles. No city, as that was at least 20-25 miles, which it wasn’t like he was granted a car and could hardly walk on foot. Plus on top of that he was mostly fenced in and was given a walking path which he used most mornings. There were few animals he had tended to, mainly just chickens in a little coup that was about a few feet off of his property. A mile just slightly outside of his fenced in area that Okoye had given him access to (generally only when she was present) was a lake or watering hole that he was allowed to use for swimming.

Bucky sudsed his scalp, which he often found tiring to do with one hand so when he did wash his chest length hair it was usually once a week. He found if he combed it frequently it could last longer between washing it. Although he probably would be washing it again in the middle of the week during Steve’s stay as he was worried about looking particularly unkempt.

All week Bucky dreamed endlessly of Steve, every morning waking in an uncomfortable state. He felt somewhere between restless and lively. Bucky knew he couldn’t help it as he thought about Steve most of the time when he would wake from periods of recalling who he was before being put under ice. It became a way to cope from the fear, that is until he couldn’t remember anything for a while. That is until he had seen him, a couple years ago and everything had clicked into place.

He knew him, he knew that he knew him.

For a long time his mind was like a bunch of fragmented pieces of a puzzle and when Steve had appeared, the borders of the puzzle aligned. It was enough to carry on forward, to fight for himself slowly forming the pieces together. Steve had been the spark that motivated him to want to start all over. Bucky knew it wasn’t Steve alone that did this. He had Okoye to thank and all of the Wakandan royalty as well as the United States Government as a whole to have that pardon.

He had just felt so excited to see Steve and he knew largely that he was too excited. Unfortunately a lot in the wrong ways. Bucky knew how he felt, that he was in love with him. It was clear to him like how his hair was brown and that he was missing a left arm. He had to be on his best behavior, and had to prove to Steve that he was okay because he knew that was likely the reason Steve came at all. That Steve was horribly worried and ridden in guilt. Bucky had to show that he was doing better, that he didn’t need Steve to come down and take time out of his new life to spend time with him. Bucky no longer wanted to be a burden to Steve and his life.

The shower began to eventually run colder as he began to wash the soap off of his underarms and chest. He was grateful of how quick he was and hurried out before the water began to freeze him. Bucky quickly dried himself and changed before returning to the kitchen to make himself his meal.

Eventually Bucky parked himself at a chair at his kitchenette, eating quietly staring absentmindedly at the opened note at the table. His heart raced uncomfortably in his chest, uneasy excitement rolling through him again before just pushing the paper away entirely.

“I thought you would be more pleased at the news.” Okoye stated, striding in through the front door unexpectedly. This used to startle Bucky but this time he had anticipated her arrival and heard her coming a couple minutes before.

“I am. Nervous too.” Bucky muttered between chews of his toast, gazing over to Okoye who had a large metal suitcase that she placed down on the table in front of him. “This for me?”

“If you want it.” Okoye offered, opening the suitcase to reveal none other than a rich purple and silver metal arm. Bucky knew from the moment she had arrived with a suitcase of that size it had to be none other than this. “Shuri also requested you to follow me back to the palace. She has another surprise for you.”

Bucky cocked an eyebrow, confused but finished off his toast then walked around Okoye to place his plate into the sink.

“Okay, when are we leaving?” Bucky asked, washing the plate and placing it into his dish drainer. When he met Okoye’s stare and her immediate silence he found his answer. “Now. Now it is okay. Let’s go then.”

----
It had been a good 8 hours, 2 in which Steve had slept and another 3 of Steve watching a movie with his feet kicked up. The flight was horribly comfortable, the chair just stiff enough to nap and comfortable enough to sit up and eat a snack or two. Steve had eaten a sandwich and a few cookies and was getting a little restless but he was counting down the hours before the jet had to refuel. Steve gazed at his phone and thankfully he was informed that by hour 7 the jet would need to refuel to make it the rest of the way and that was in about 15 minutes.

Steve took out his book he was working on, it was something that was on the list that Natasha put on maybe a year ago that he finally got around to reading. It was the Great Gatsby, which he wasn’t sure why was suggested but he read on nonetheless. The irony of it all was that the book apparently had been given to lots of U.S. soldiers as it had come out around the time during World War II but Steve had just never gotten a copy. He had hardly read 20 pages so far, but he knew he’d likely finish it on the second half of the trip.

He set down the book and settled on reading it after the jet landed for fuel, thankful he had just heard the warning over the speaker that they were to land and will have the ability to stretch for a few moments. This was one thing Steve was terrible at- sitting still for long bouts of time. He wanted nothing more than to run around for a little while and he just might if it took a good few minutes to fuel the jet. Maybe he’d run around it like a little kid trying to get out some energy.

Steve’s mind wandered again to when he would arrive in Wakanda. He was informed that he would land in their small airspace, then would be driven to where Bucky stayed which he was informed about an hour’s drive. He would likely end up at Bucky’s residence around 11pm, which he assumed that Bucky would want to sleep by then and Steve was afraid he wouldn’t be tired enough to sleep.

Steve decided ahead of time that he would force himself to stay awake the rest of the 8 hour flight so he would be exhausted enough to sleep throughout the night in Wakanda. He just wanted to make it easier so Bucky would be more comfortable in his presence and not feel the need to stay up with him. Not that he assumed Bucky would do so, but he knew how he was often pretty accommodating. At least that’s how he used to be before everything had happened.

Steve thought about that too, a lot changed and Bucky was a lot different than he used to be. He would probably be even more so with this different way of living he had been experiencing. For one thing Bucky had been growing out his hair, wearing robes and participating in a very simple minded life. Steve had never imagined Bucky doing something like that, although he knew it was something that must be giving him routine and a sense of purpose. Steve knew it no matter what it was still Bucky underneath all that. Underneath everything that happened to him, it was the same kid he grew up with so he wasn’t needing to be nervous about that.

The jet started to dip down and Steve gently held onto his arm rests as it came to the ground. For a few minutes he could feel it rolling along the runway and he was eager to get out of his seat to move around. As soon as he heard through his intercom that the coast was clear he was let outside and stretched taking in all the fresh air.

----

Bucky and Okoye sat upon the back of a vehicle with two Wakandan soldiers driving up into the direction of the city. As far as Bucky knows, it was a sudden surprise as to why he was leaving his hut. He had hardly had a reason to leave to go back to the city; even regular intake therapy and doctor related visits took place in his home. The sudden shock of it all caused Bucky to have to take several moments throughout the drive to copy Okoye on his breathing exercises. His anxiety had started to get the best of him but so far he was coping fairly well.

The car had pulled up to the underground area of the palace where they parked most of their vehicles, which wasn’t many because often they didn’t leave to drive as far as outside the city. Bucky just followed absentmindedly, directing his attention purely onto his body, taking each step at a time and not thinking ahead. Bucky kept his head down for the most part to avoid trying to deduce which way he was going or he knew that his mind would wander and assume that something horrible was going to happen to him.

Bucky held his new hand, touching the metal fingers with his own, allowing himself to become accustomed to the sensation as it became foreign to him. He became so used to doing things one handed, to be given a new arm with slightly more advanced tech was a bit strange to have. Not that he wasn’t used to it at one point but the freedom and trust he was suddenly given caused an added fear.

It wasn’t long that Bucky’s attention had become diverted to being escorted to what looked like a salon. He tried to look over at Okoye with a clear look of confusion, but she avoided his gaze entirely when the two of them walked up to the front desk. Bucky looked around noticing many women hard at work, two actively braiding hair to the scalp and one woman was getting her hair washed in the sink. Clearly he stuck out like a sore thumb as the only man, and a white man at that.

“Appointment for Barnes, 11:30.” Okoye stated, in which Bucky gave her a hard stare several times trying to continuously get her attention subtly.

“Rashida will take him shortly, take a seat.” The receptionist confirmed, in which Okoye walked over and sat in the waiting area. Bucky however stayed planted until Okoye gave a firm stare in which Bucky respectively sat next to her.

“What is happening right now?” Bucky asked, incredulous that this was even happening. He steadied his breathing, knowing he found some anxiety in the lack of communication. Not that Okoye understood.

“I think it is quite obvious. Your surprise is a haircut. I suggest a couple inches.” Okoye said, eyeing his long hair with mild judgement. “Maybe more.”

“If I was told I looked indecent I would have cut my hair myself.” Bucky huffed, but truly his stubbornness was a result of not being in a hair salon or a barber in ages. The newness of it was daunting and the judgement on Okoye’s part wasn’t helping.

“That would have been a sight to see. I’m sure it would look very bad.” Okoye made a short laugh that in her own eyes would be considered her idea of cackling hysterically. Bucky knew she didn’t find many things amusing so of course out of all things it had to be judging his abilities to alter his appearance.

Bucky neglected to respond, instead leaving a look of distaste on his face. He bounced his leg anxiously, watching the hairstylists work away. He swallowed, feeling his muscles clench and a familiar feeling of panic set in. A hairstylist across the way drops a comb and he feels his entire body jump upon impact immediately. Bucky tilts his head down and places his hands on his head, to steady himself.

Okoye takes notice and places one firm hand to the middle of his back making slow repetitive circles. She mimicked deep breaths of slow breathing, in which she could hear Bucky follow suit along with her and a small smile appears on her face. She knew he was capable of making changes for himself, even this small one. This small one would be a hurdle in his books and it was the start of something new.

“Thank you.” Bucky muttered, starting to collect himself. Before Okoye had a chance to say anything, the hairstylist called him over in which stood and followed her to her station.

----

The appointment went well and Bucky felt that his hair felt a lot smoother and less dry on the ends of his hair. It was also a lot shorter, which helped now when he was going to be able to wash it. It laid right on top of his shoulders, (which was what he decided on as it was way past his chest for so long) and layered as that's what she suggested so it didn’t feel so heavy on his head. Bucky didn’t care as long as he didn’t look bad, which earned an amused chuckle from the hairstylist.

Afterwards Okoye treated him to a meal and rightfully afterwards took the car back to his hut an hour away. By the time he arrived back to his humble abode it was nearly 4pm. Bucky had to tend to his chickens, but that was the only thing left on his to-do list outside of maybe a small dinner. He decided to eat later because of his big lunch. Bucky made sure to thank Okoye and also to carry on thanks to Shuri as it was her idea for the haircut.

Bucky made sure to keep himself busy and even treated himself to a short nap around 7pm, waking up just in time for Steve’s arrival.