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At Boston University everyone knew who Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes were. It was hard not know who they were when Sam was class president, a starting quarterback for their football team, the Avengers, and creator of the biggest GSA program on the east coast. Bucky was equally hard to miss with how loud he was with his charm and sleeve tattoo of gears and machinery covering his left arm. He was co-creator of the GSA and always volunteering for whatever event that was happening on campus.
Sam and Bucky were seniors and even the freshmen knew about them. Above all else the one thing they were known for was their relationship - everyone in a relationship tried to emulate their love for each other, but always paled in comparison. They were never too far from each other; there was a saying about them: if you knew Sam, you knew Bucky. No one knew just one of them.
They met in freshman year, Bucky asked Sam out on Valentine’s day, and they fell hard and fast for each other. If something like soulmates existed, Sam and Bucky were the closest thing to it.
*
Bucky’s homecoming
“I can’t thank you guys enough for helping me organize this,” Sam said to his best friends, Steve and Natasha.
“Of course, man. I think everyone is just as excited to have Bucky back,” Steve replied as finished hanging up the ‘Welcome Home Bucky’ banner.
“The campus has definitely been quieter this semester without him,” Natasha noted and Steve nodded.
It was the end of the spring semester of their junior year and Bucky was coming back from being abroad in Romania. When Bucky first told him that he wanted to go, Sam was furious that Bucky was going to be gone for the entirety of their second semester. After the initial shock wore off, Sam realized that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and was proud of Bucky. It was the longest four months of Sam’s life, even though they talked through facebook or skype almost everyday, he missed Bucky so much his body ached.
So here they were, in the main dining hall on campus getting ready for Bucky’s arrival any minute. Sam pulled some strings and reserved the dining hall and was given permission by the president to decorate the hall and host Bucky’s homecoming. It was the campus’ biggest event to date- with the help of free food and Sam’s enthusiasm to have his boyfriend back.
Sam’s phoned beeped with a text message, “Okay, he was just dropped off by his brother. I told him to come here.”
Sam, Steve, and Natasha made their way to stand by the entrance, so they would be the first one’s Bucky saw.
When Bucky pushed through the double doors, his jaw dropped. Taking in the banner and everyone cheering and Sam’s blinding smile, it was a bit overwhelming. After a few seconds he walked up to Sam and crushed him into a hug, pressing his nose and mouth against his neck. Still holding on tight to Sam’s arms he leaned back and looked at him, “Babe, what is all this?”
Sam laughed and stroked Bucky’s cheek, “Your homecoming.”
“Have I ever told you that I’m the luckiest guy ever to have you?”
“Yes, but I’m luckier. Welcome home, baby,” Sam said and captured Bucky’s lips in a deep kiss; they kissed long and slow making up for lost time until they heard Natasha clear her throat.
“You guys have plenty of time to catch up that way, but not in public please.”
They both laughed and took a few moments to look at each other and hold each other, finally in person again. “Romania was fun, but God I missed you so much,” Bucky whispered.
“You are not leaving my sight for the whole weekend, I hope you know that.”
Bucky’s eyes shined even brighter, “my thoughts exactly. I love you so much.”
“I love you more, now let’s go mingle, I’m not the only one who missed you,” Sam replied and took Bucky’s hand and joined Steve and Natasha. After a couple hours of eating and catching up with people, Bucky felt the jet lag set in fell into a dead sleep with his head on Sam’s shoulder.
As soon as everyone but Steve and Natasha were gone, Sam gently woke Bucky up, “ready for bed, sleepyhead?”
Sam didn’t know how his six-foot tall badass boyfriend could look so adorable rubbing sleep from his eyes and mumbling, but Bucky proved him wrong, “mmm yeah, more sleep please.”
Without making Bucky fall over, Sam gently got up and held out his hand, “alright let’s go. Bye Steve, bye Natasha! Thank you guys again!”
They walked out of the dining hall, Bucky mumbling his goodbyes too, still half asleep and leaning mostly on Sam.
*
Football Practice
Since Sam was the football team, the whole team knew Bucky too. On fridays they made a tradition during the off season that after practice they all went out to eat, and Bucky was the only non team member that always joined them. Bucky would sit in the bleachers during practice and occupy himself with school work, drawing, or mostly watching Sam. The team had accepted Bucky as a permanent fixture and always welcomed his company.
At the start of their senior year they recruited a new member on the varsity team; Pietro Maximoff, who came straight from Russia and was fast as lightning.
The first Friday practice of the season Bucky took his usual seat on the bleachers and watched Sam as the team did their warm up drills. Pietro kept looking at Bucky and noticed his attention on Sam.
“Hey Sam, who is that guy over there? He keeps staring at you. It’s kinda creepy,” Pietro said to Sam as they stretched.
“That’s Bucky, you’ll meet him later,” Steve said.
“Bucky, huh? What, he your boyfriend?” Pietro asked in a mocking tone and Sam narrowed his eyes. Without a word he got up and strode over to the low fence in front of the bleachers. Bucky hopped down and met Sam, bracketing his hands around Sam’s on the fence.
“Hi, babe. Who’s the new guy?”
“Just some punk that needs to be put in his place and show a little respect,” Sam said and smirked at Bucky.
Bucky matched Sam’s smile and wrapped one arm around Sam’s waist and kissed him hard and dirty. He slid his hand down and palmed Sam’s ass, getting a moan in return. Although the kiss only lasted a few seconds Sam pulled back breathing heavily.
“Wooo! Get it, Wilson!” Rhodey shouted from the field making Bucky and Sam laugh, Bucky threw up a thumbs up.
“That’ll show him, baby,” Bucky winked Sam jogged back to the team. Pietro’s eyes were wide and unbelieving as he looked to the others who were unfazed by what happened, because it happened all the time.
“You better get used to that, Maximoff,” Clint said and high fived Sam.
*
Test Days
Sam settled into his seat of his upper division psyche class and looked over his notes as last minute prep for his mid term.
“Alright guys, one more minute and we’ll get started,” Dr. Hill said and closed the door. Not five seconds later there was insistent knocking and she rolled her eyes. She opened the door to see Bucky standing on the other side with a charming grin on his face. “Mr. Barnes. We are about to take a test.”
“I know, I just wanted wish Sam good luck,” he said and his smile grew.
“We need to get started, you can see him after,” Dr. Hill huffed.
“You know if you had just let me in, I would’ve been gone by now,” Bucky argued.
Dr. Hill sighed and moved aside letting Bucky rush in the classroom and over to Sam. Bucky gripped Sam’s chin and planted a quick kiss on his lips, “good luck, baby,” he whispered and he dashed out of the room.
Dr. Hill looked at Sam and pursed her lips, “thank you for that interruption, Mr. Wilson.”
Sam just shrugged, “it works”.
*
Sam’s wallpaper
The summer after freshmen year Sam and Bucky took a weekend trip to San Diego. Sam wanted to experience the California sun and Bucky had his mind set on going to the car show at the convention center.
It was their second day and they were lounging on the beach, Sam basking in the sun and Bucky lathering on his third coat of sunscreen.
“You know, more sun screen won’t help you. You already have an inch-thick layer,” Sam laughed at Bucky.
“Sam, it is hot as fuck out here. I’m going to burn alive,” Bucky grumbled and settled back into the sand next to Sam.
“Aside from bein’ all grumpy you look really hot right now, and not in the temperature way,” Sam said, staring unabashedly at Bucky’s toned body.
“Well the only reason I agreed to the beach, because I have weakness for you in nothing but board shorts and sunglasses,” Bucky replied.
Sam smiled and leaned over to kiss Bucky’s shoulder, “and because you love me.”
“And because I love you,” Bucky agreed and tipped his head down to kiss Sam’s lips.
“Let’s take a picture,” Sam suggested and Bucky groaned. “Come on, baby, please.”
“Fine,” Bucky said. Sam got his phone and laid down on the towel and tugged Bucky down so his head was on Sam’s shoulder. The first picture Bucky frowned dramatically as he glared into the camera. “If you don’t smile, I’ll throw that model car I got you into the ocean,” Sam threatened and Bucky laughed, squeezing his eyes shut as Sam pressed his lips to Bucky’s temple and snapped another picture.
Sam looked at the second picture for a minute and made it the wallpaper on his phone. He loved the genuine smile on Bucky’s face and this way he could see it all the time.
Bucky picked up Sam’s phone and smiled at the screen, “we look good together”. Their relationship was still fairly new and Sam still got butterflies whenever Bucky said something like that.
“Yeah, we do,” Sam agreed and looked into Bucky’s eyes and traced invisible patterns into his bare chest.
*
Bucky’s wallpaper
It was was the state championship game and Sam was determined for his team to win. The stadium was packed and the crowd was roaring as the game went into it’s last minute. The Avengers were down by five points, one touchdown and they would win. Steve told Sam to run outside, so when Clint hiked the ball to Steve, he threw it to Sam who caught and ran the last 40 yards to the end zone, scoring a touchdown.
The whole crowd and erupted and got louder than ever before and chanting Sam’s nickname, “Falcon”. He got that nickname because he was the fastest quarterback on the team and whenever he scored a touchdown he spread his arms out wide like a wingspan.
They ran down the clock and when the final buzzer rang the team all rushed for Sam, lifting him up in celebration. The crowd flooded the field celebrating with the team and Bucky ran up to Sam who wrapped his arms around Bucky’s thighs and lifted him up. Bucky was laughing and pulled Sam’s helmet off and leaned down to kiss him. Sam lost track of everyone around them and got lost in Bucky’s kiss. Sam set him down without breaking the kiss.
They got interrupted as Clint and Rhodey poured a cooler of gatorade over their heads, soaking them.
“You are a dead man, Clint,” Bucky said laughing, still gripping one of Sam’s arms and holding his helmet.
“It was Steve’s idea!”
“Yeah, but you are easy access, I know where you sleep.” Clint rolled his eyes and clapped Sam on the shoulder saying something about a party.
They walked over to Natasha who was on the sidelines taking pictures for the school paper, Sam threw his arm around Bucky’s shoulder and Bucky laced their fingers together.
“I think I’m going to submit this picture, look,” Natasha said and showed them the screen. They were in the middle of the picture, Sam holding Bucky up and Bucky had his right hand cupping Sam’s jaw and his left forearm balanced on Sam’s shoulder pad with the helmet gripped in his fingertips. They were kissing, both with their eyes closed and looking so relaxed despite the chaos of everyone around them.
“Wow, can you send that to me?” Bucky asked and Natasha smiled and nodded.
The next day the school paper came out and that picture was on the front page with the headline, “Sam “The Falcon” Wilson celebrates the Avenger’s second State Championship with boyfriend Bucky Barnes”.
When Nastasha sent him a copy of the picture to him, he uploaded it onto his phone and made it his wallpaper making sure to zoom in so he and Sam took up most of the screen.
*
Bucky’s tattoo
The sleeve on Bucky’s left arm was constantly being added to over the course of his undergraduate years. Anything that inspired him or he thought was visually appealing he got tattooed, from steampunk style gears to his mom’s favorite flower; everything had a special meaning. When he and Sam starting dating Sam always went with him for each session,never complaining about how long it took, just holding Bucky’s hand and talking him through it.
A month into their senior year it was Sam’s birthday and Bucky wanted to make this one special and he had the perfect idea.
He called his tattoo artist and scheduled an appointment on September 22nd, the day before Sam’s birthday. Sharon, his artist, was a little surprised to see Bucky alone this time, but he explained that it was a gift for Sam and she smiled fondly. Bucky was Sharon’s favorite client because he always gave her interesting things to tattoo and it was easy to like Sam.
Bucky kept the tattoo hidden under a long sleeve shirt, happy for the cold weather that day. He was a little nervous about hiding it from Sam until the next day because they did share a bed, but Sam was none the wiser in the dark of their room.
The next morning, Bucky woke up before Sam and pulled on his long sleeve again, slipping out of bed to make his boyfriend breakfast. When he was just about done, Sam was awake and wrapped himself around Bucky who was at the stove.
“Did you make me breakfast?” Sam asked sleepily.
“Yup, I can be nice sometimes,” Bucky replied and leaned back into Sam.
“Lies,” he teased.
“Mhmm, happy birthday, baby,” Bucky whispered and twisted around to kiss Sam’s lips.
“Thank you, babe.”
After their classes were done and football practice was over, Bucky and Sam went to their favorite restaurant.
They talked and ate and laughed like they always did. When dessert came, Bucky was ready to reveal his present.
“Sammy,” Bucky started and laid his left hand on the table for Sam to take, which he did immediately.
“Yeah, baby? What’s up? You seem nervous,” Sam observed. Bucky cursed internally, when did his boyfriend know him better than himself?
“I got something for you and I hope you like it. It’s my way of showing you how much I love you,” Bucky said slowly. Sam didn’t say anything, just kept his eyes on Bucky.
Bucky swallowed hard and let go of Sam’s hand to lift up his right sleeve and show the tattoo on the inside of his wrist; it was the only tattoo Bucky had on his right arm. Sam gasped when he saw the two small falcon wings on either side of the tendon on Bucky’s wrist.
“This symbolizes you. I got it here so it would stand out. Baby, you are the love my of life, this is so I can have you with me always.” When Bucky looked up he was met with Sam’s watery eyes and soft smile.
Sam picked up Bucky’s right hand, careful not to touch the healing tattoo and kissed his knuckles. “This is the best present I’ve ever gotten. How did I get so lucky?”
Bucky smiled hugely, “I’m luckier. Happy birthday, I love you more than anything”.
“I love you more,” Sam grinned and looked for their waiter and signaled for the check. “Now, can we go, because I really need to have sex with you right now.”
Bucky laughed and leaned over the table to kiss Sam, “what birthday is complete without that?”