Work Text:
"What we find in a soul mate is not something wild to tame but something wild to run with" ~ Robert Brault
Steve always wakes up at precisely 5:00 every morning. He got it drilled into him at Basic Training during the war and even the 70 year period where he was frozen in the ice didn't knock him out of that. It's always dark at five in the morning, which is great because he can escape the Tower for an hour or so and go for a run without being stopped by anyone in the streets.
Don't get him wrong, Steve loves meeting people. Loves the admiration he receives and the looks of pure gratitude from every single person he meets out on the side walks of the city; but during his runs he wants to... well, run.
Sam wakes up forty minutes before Steve and leaves at 4:30, hoping to get a head start. Sam only aims to run the running track at Prospect once, Steve aims to see how many times he can lap him in the process - his high score is currently 7 times, close to 8.
But his favorite thing about waking up in the morning.
It's the man lying peacefully beside him. Usually they're both tangled up in each other, or one of them has an arm over the other, or they aren't touching but facing each other anyway. They have no located sleeping position; it changes pretty much everyday in an endless cycle but they are always comfortable anyway.
That one morning, at 5:00, Steve and Bucky were facing each other; with Bucky's arm outstretched over Steve's stomach and one of Steve's hands resting on the back of Bucky's neck, fingers tickled by the ends of Bucky's brown hair. Bucky's breath is rolling down Steve's neck, his skin warm against the blond's and his heartbeat is relaxing against Steve's chest.
Usually Bucky's asleep too ("I'm not getting up at five in the fucking morning, Steve. I don't give a shit if it means getting to annoy Wilson, I'd rather lose my other arm before waking up before ten.") but when Steve's eyelashes opened and fluttered against Bucky's cheek, Bucky let out a lazy smile and opened one eye also.
"G'morning." Bucky mumbled, half of his face blocked by his pillow.
Steve lent in and kissed the corner of his mouth, pulling Bucky flush against his chest as he did so. "Morning Bucky."
"Aren't you supposed to be out by now?"
"Five minutes." Steve nestled his cheek against Bucky's hair. "Gotta let Sam get a forty minute head start."
Bucky hummed and tightened his arms around Steve. "You mind if I join you two today?"
Steve pulled away and had to prop himself onto his elbow so he could give Bucky a "what-the-hell" kind of look. "Are you feeling okay?"
Bucky flopped onto his back and rolled his eyes. "I'm fine Steve, just feel like going for a run with you and Wilson today."
"You're not my boyfriend." Steve teased, poking Bucky's hip over the top of the blanket. "Who are you and what did you do with the real Bucky?"
"You're funny Steven." Bucky huffed, shoving Steve's shoulder half-heartedly. "I actually want to see how many times I can lap Wilson and - seeing as I'm faster - how many times I can lap you too."
"Aaaaaaand Barnes is back."
Bucky grinned and rolled over to hover over Steve who let himself fall onto his back. It's only at that point that Steve realized Bucky was shirtless, and the bite mark and multiple purple bruises littering Bucky's upper body shot Steve back to the memories of last night. Steve, too, had dozens of love-bites and teeth marks on his body; but damn does Bucky look really good right now.
"You okay there Cap?" Bucky ducked his head down so they were nose to nose and he was grinning at Steve in a way that told him he already knew that Steve is not okay. But Steve gulped and nodded his head anyway, hands travelling down Bucky's sides to grip his hips and bring them down to his own.
He lent up, capturing Bucky's mouth in a heated kiss and tried to flip them over but Bucky used his metal arm to pin Steve down onto the mattress and pull away from the kiss. Steve tried chasing Bucky's lips but Bucky just chuckled and lent their foreheads together.
Bucky hummed, before licking his lips and locking his eyes with Steve's. "As much as I love what that leads too, and trust me I do, we kinda need to go in a second if we want to catch up to Wilson."
"You know, suddenly I'm not feeling up to running this morning."
Bucky laughed and rolled out of bed. "Nice try Steven, get your ass up!"
***
"On your left."
"On your right."
The two super-soldiers shot past Sam for the sixth time that morning and distinctly heard Sam yell a threat behind them but they had already turned a corner and were out of sight. Bucky had always been a lot faster than Steve and when Steve got the serum he thought he would end up faster than the brunette. But no, if anything he could only keep up with Bucky during the war. Now, Bucky's faster still and is currently at a some-what slow pace to what his body can handle.
"You want to speed up there, or shall I just go?" Bucky grinned, running backwards to give Steve the grin he had plastered on his face.
"Piss of Barnes." Steve shoved his shoulder but all it did was spin him round to face the way they were running.
Bucky gave him a boyish grin (the same one he was wearing this morning and suddenly Steve wanted to head back to the Tower very, very quickly) before shrugging. "Fine."
"Bucky I didn't mean-" But Bucky just slowed a fraction of a step to kiss his cheek swiftly and then pelted it around the bend and away from sight. "-literally."
***
Steve beat his record that morning.
Having lapped Sam eight times Steve called it quits once he reached the end of the track. What with the serum it should take him around three times what he just did for him to break a sweat, but he was still panting and in need of a water.
Bucky, who had lapped Sam nine times - and Steve too, which Steve was not happy about - was sitting on the top of a small hill, propped up on his elbows with two water bottles beside him and one in at his lips.
He chucked one of the sealed ones at Steve when he reached his feet and laughed silently at the way Steve just glares at him and gulps down 3/4 of the bottle in one go. When Steve pillowed his head against Bucky's lap, Bucky smiled lovingly at him and started running the pads of his fingers against Steve's jawline.
"I hate you." Steve shut his eyes and mumbled tiredly into Bucky's tee shirt. "I hate you so fucking much right now."
Bucky sat up and bent down to place three quick kisses to his cheek. "Shut it blondie you love me."
"Evidence or you're lying."
"Well," Bucky smirked as he lifted the bottom of his tee shirt up an inch. Steve opened his eyes to come face to face with four purple bruises and one set of what can only pass as perfect dental records decorating Bucky's skin. "this seems like pretty good evidence to me. Or if you want more recent ones, the way you were looking at me around an hour or so ago seems pretty good to me too."
Steve shoved Bucky's tee shirt down again and sat up, turning to face his boyfriend who was laughing like the bastard he is. "Not funny James."
"You know what else isn't funny?" They both looked up to find Sam walking up the hill towards them. He dropped to the ground a foot or so away from them and huffed out a breath. "What's not funny is the way you guys lap me like no one's fucking business."
Bucky just shook his head and rolled the last water bottle over so it bumped into Sam's side. After Sam downed the entire bottle he had enough energy to sit up and glare at them both.
"I get it, I do," Sam shook his head. "super soldiers and all that. Need to burn off your metabolism or whatever, but I don't see why you feel the need to even associate yourselves with me while you guys do it."
"If I didn't 'associate' myself with you two years ago you wouldn't be an Avenger." Steve pointed out, helping Sam to his feet as Bucky stood up too and brushed himself off.
"And I do it just for the kicks." Bucky shrugged. "But hey," He jostled Sam's shoulder and gave them both a cheeky smirk. "you now have a 'I've-been-lapped' club going on."
"Piss off."
***
"You know," Bucky was sat propped against the headboard of his and Steve's bed in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and an old Springsteen tee shirt. "I really enjoyed that."
Steve scoffed from his desk, closing his sketchbook also. He had been trying to finish the picture he was doing of Bucky; from before and now but it's proving harder than he thought it would be.
"Please, you just like the fact that you can lap the both of us."
"Damn right I do." Bucky grinned, holding his arms open and making grabby motions with his hands like a toddler until Steve more than happily fell into his chest. Bucky rubbed up and down Steve's chest, slipping his hands under Steve's tight white tee shirt and running his fingertips over hard muscles.
Steve pressed his lips to Bucky's neck in a gentle kiss, before nestling his forehead into Bucky's collarbone and humming contently. "I love you."
"Oh so now you love me?" Bucky joked, rolling them over so they were both on their sides and looking at each other.
"You're a jerk."
Bucky smiled fondly and planted a slow kiss to Steve's mouth. "I love you too ya Punk."