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The sweet aroma of vegetables sizzling in a hot pan hit him as he stumbled through the doorway, head hung low in exhaustion. He followed the smell to its source, finding Sam moving gracefully around the kitchen, humming along to the radio. Bucky walked up behind him at his place at the stovetop and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist, burying his head in his shoulder.
“Hey, baby,” Sam acknowledged gently, resting his hands atop his partner’s, “You ok?”
All he got was a hum in reply, but it was enough.
“Go sit down, it’ll be two minutes,” he suggested, tapping Bucky’s arm in encouragement. He slowly detangled himself and trudged to the table, throwing himself heavily into his seat. He noted a stack of papers to his left, strewn across the wooden tabletop. Squinting slightly, he read the top of one. Copyright for the title ‘New Avengers’. He huffed a small laugh as Sam emerged into the room. Setting their plates on the table, he noticed the placement of the papers and quickly scooped them away.
“Yeah, I was just about to mention that,” he said, gesturing towards them, “You gotta understand why I have to, right?”
“Yeah, no, I get it. It’s not me you’re gonna have a problem with, though. It’s the others,” Bucky replied, picking up his knife and fork. A silence fell over the room as he tucked into his food, Bucky feeling his energy being mildly restored with each delicious bite.
“I still don’t get it,” Sam stated after some time, a slight tone of annoyance in his words.
Bucky sighed and rolled his eyes, “Here we go again.”
“I just don’t get how you allowed that. You knew that I want to start a new team and yet you ran off and made your own,” Sam continued.
“How many times do I have to tell you? I didn’t start a new team, I was just there when it happened. I can’t exactly just abandon them, and I think I speak for both of us when I say I didn’t think it’d last this long.”
Sam’s eyes returned to his plate, forking stabbing a little harsher than before. Bucky scrubbed his hand over his eyes, sighing in frustration.
“Look,” he lowered his voice, trying to remove the anger that had unintentionally eked into his words, “There’s no point in us constantly fighting over this. You know I support you and your team no matter what. And you also know I can’t just leave mine. It’s not exactly like people like us much anyway so we won’t be undermining you.”
Sam chuckled slightly at that, finally meeting his eyes.
“You guys do suck.”
“Yeah, yeah we do,” Bucky agreed wholeheartedly, not fighting the fond smile creeping onto his face.
“Promise me that, if a time comes, you won’t be against me. I can handle us working on different teams, I can’t handle you fighting me.”
“I promise,” Bucky replied instantly, grabbing Sam’s hand, “I love those guys, and I love doing this, but I love you more.”
“I love you too,” Sam replied with a smile, never sick of saying that, “Now eat, before it gets cold.”
They freed their hands and polished off their plates before Bucky played the dutiful boyfriend and carried them to the kitchen sink.
“You know,” he called over his shoulder as Sam poured himself a glass of water, “I think we could team up one day. Make the Mega-Avengers.”
“Man, shut the hell up,” Sam laughed, “Alexei would probably pass out from excitement.” He leaned casually against the wall, watching his boyfriend clean.
“But don’t you want matching t-shirts? We’d look so cute,” Bucky joked, already imagining the garish designs Alexei would come up with.
“See, you complain about all that marketing shit but I know you secretly love it. I bet the Bucky action figure was your idea,” he replied with a smirk, eliciting a loud groan out of the other man.
“You’re never gonna let me forget that are you.”
“Of course not. He lives on my desk. He’s my prized possession, the new family heirloom.”
“I’m gonna find it and melt its face off.”
“Good luck finding all of them.”
“You have more than one?!”
“Baby, why do you think they sold out?”
Bucky groaned again while his boyfriend laughed heartily at his annoyance. He placed the last dish on the rack and wiped his hands across his jeans to dry them.
“I hate you,” he grumbled, resting his hands on Sam’s waist.
“Oh, I’m sure,” he responded sarcastically, sliding his hands up Bucky’s arms and cupping his neck. They leaned in slowly, mouths slotting together in a sweet kiss. Bucky’s hands gripped Sam’s waist tighter, pulling their bodies closer and pouring more intensity into the kiss. One of Sam’s hands threaded through the back of his hair, pulling slightly at the longer strands. Bucky moaned quietly, mouth opening and allowing Sam’s tongue access. Just as his thumb slipped below the edge of Sam’s waistband, a loud ringing emitted from the phone on the countertop.
“God damn it,” Bucky swore, breaking the kiss and resting his head in the crook of Sam’s shoulder.
“Something tells me you should probably get that,” he chuckled slightly, freeing Bucky from his arms. The older man shuffled over to the phone, rolling his eyes at the screen.
“What?” he said sharply as he pressed accept.
Alexei’s booming voice shouted down the phone, “Bucky, we have very bad news! Sam Wilson is suing us for Avengers title! Now, I have plan, but we need to act-“ He hung up the phone, placing it back on the marble.
“I’ll take it they got the papers,” Sam guessed amusedly.
“And that is not my problem right now,” Bucky replied, crowding Sam back up against the wall. He had better things to be doing.