Archive of Our Own

Days on the paediatric floor of NYU Langone Hospital aren’t for the weak. There is never a dull moment, with kids coming in for everything from scrapes to limbs needing to be taken off.

Luckily for Bucky (or unluckily, depending on where you’re standing), he can relate to those kids, can be a person they can look towards to see it’s not all bad. In their eyes, Bucky is a happy successful nurse, even without his left arm.

No need for them to know he’s actually an insane grump with one friend who barely tolerates him on a good day, and scrapes by with five hours of sleep a night, or day if he’s shoved on night shift.

But the kids don’t know that, so he doesn’t tell them.

It’s hour two in his twelve-hour shift when it all turns upside down. Every room is occupied on the floor, with a couple beds spilling out into the hallways, and there are still more patients to be seen in the waiting room. Bucky has been cornered by six angry parents about waiting times, and he has only had the one cup of coffee.

It’s gonna be a long ten hours.

He’s just about to go get his next patient when Sherry skips over with the biggest smile on her face. Here we go.

“Guess what!” She whispers, just barely hiding a squeal in her words. Bucky has no clue.

“I have no clue.”

Sherry does a sweet little wiggle, “There is a special guest coming today!” She beams, jumping once, twice, before reaching out for both Bucky’s flesh and metal biceps.

Bucky is all for his fellow nurses, and casual friends, touching him, but the second she starts- oh and she’s shaking him. “Sherry-“

“Captain America is coming!” She whisper-yells, pulling her hands away to cover her mouth and what is very obviously a massive smile.

Yeah, alright, Bucky might have to join her in the wiggling and shaking.

It’s not that Bucky has a crush on Captain America, it’s more so that Bucky has eyes, and can see that Sam Wilson is a treat and a half.

It’s also completely normal that Bucky knows Captain America visiting their hospital should have been expected because he’s been making the rounds of all the New York hospitals for the last few months. Realistically, Bucky knows they’re more than likely just photo opportunities, but anything that helps people donate more to hospitals is welcome.

Bucky does manage to keep his composure and not freak out with Sherry, but it’s a close thing. “While I’d love to freak out with you, and I will later once he’s gone, we have jobs to do.” He murmurs, twirling Sherry around and handing his clipboard to her, so he can grab a new one.

Sherry huffs, before walking briskly to the waiting room and pasting on her big smile. She is definitely one of Bucky’s favourite coworkers.

Bucky grabs a new clipboard, scans the details he needs, practices the next child’s name a couple times before heading for the waiting room.

****

It’s another hectic three hours of work before all of the paediatric nurses are pulled into the Nurses Station to discuss their ‘exciting visit’.

Sherry slides up next to Bucky, pinching his hip to let him know she’s there. “You excited to meet your man crush?” She says a face splitting smile on her lips.

Bucky harumphs. “It’s not a man crush if I’m gay,” He answers, rolling his eyes to cover the heat that is definitely showing itself on his cheeks. “It’s just a normal crush-“ Before Sherry can butt in and say she told him so, he holds up his hand to silence her. “And I don’t even have a crush on him! I can just see that he’s attractive, as everyone can.”

“I don’t think he’s attractive,” Meryl chimes in, her arms crossed and her face set in her concentrated scowl as it always is. “He’s just buff and people get that confused.”

Bucky feels the urge to defend Sam Wilson rise up in his veins, but they’re interrupted by Delilah, their charge nurse, before he can.

“Listen up!” She starts, waiting a couple beats for the group to quieten down. “This is obviously very exciting, and an honour to have Mr Wilson, Captain America, coming to our hospital. But let me remind you, he is here for our patients, not our nurses or doctors. You are to continue on with your work, carry on seeing your patients, and not bother him and his team.” Delilah scans her nurses and waits while everyone nods their heads. “Good, now he’ll be here in about ten minutes, get back to work.”

As the no-nonsense person Delilah has always been, she’s never needed a table to stand on, she just uses her four-foot-eleven body filled with nothing but control over an audience to capture everyone’s attention. No one has ever gotten on her bad side and lasted a year here, and Bucky forever intends to keep it that way for himself.

So, while he wants to corner Meryl and remind her that Sam Wilson, their very own Captain America is attractive and buff, because he needs to be for his job of, oh what was it? Saving the world, he doesn’t. Lest Delilah give him a look he definitely won’t survive.

Bucky doesn’t even notice the time passing before there’s the tell-tale sound of a commotion at the entrance to their floor. Instinctively, Bucky abandons his computer with his charts to check on whoever is coming in, only to find a small team of one man and two women in strapping black suits coming through the doors.

Along with, fucking hell, Captain America in all of his casual clothes glory.

Bucky had been expecting the whole she-bang. All stars and stripes, wings ready to go on show, the shield on his back for the kids to marvel at. Never in a million years did he think he’d be seeing Sam Wilson in his normal civilian clothing. As well as not a single photographer in sight.

He does notice, however, that Sam has a circular brown leather case held in his hand, which can only be one thing.

Bucky knows he should go back to his charts. There wasn’t some big emergency, and he isn’t needed, so can get back to work. But he quite simply can’t. His legs won’t move, and his eyes can’t be torn away from how Sam Wilson is the pinnacle of utter perfection standing in front of him.

He swears he’s about to get back to work, return to his charts, but then Sam Wilson locks eyes with him. Bucky gasps in a breath, holding it in his lungs for a steady four seconds before blowing it back out. Captain America is still looking at him.

He gives Bucky a small nod, the tiniest of cheeky smiles on his face, before he honest to god winks and looks back to Delilah.

Right then. Be normal about this.

Bucky nods his head a couple times, heaving in deep breaths to steady his heartbeat, and turns around. His charts won’t write themselves. When he gets back to the desk and computer he’s using, it’s turned from his charts to the welcome screen, a terrible indicator that he spent too long gawking at Captain America and not working.

He tries to get back to it, to remember everything that was discussed with his last patients’ parents. But all that’s on his mind now is Captain America and his beautiful eyes, and strong arms, and pretty smile. Bucky is useless to this.

Eventually, after a harrowing ten minutes, he considers what he’s typed to be enough, and staggers away from his computer. Onto his next job.

Usually, he’d be more than willing to grab a couple more patients, see who can be sent home after a checkup and quick care, it’s coming up to the middle of his shift, and he knows he should be checking on his patients again.

So, Bucky grabs his clipboard, just for something to lean on if he needs to add any more notes to patients’ files. His first stop is a six-year-old girl, who came in with her father due to puking in the night. He was worried about a potential stomach bug, but Bucky was worried about it being something worse.

****

He’s just finishing up with his third patient when he exits their room to find Captain America and his team gathered at the entrance of his next room. “So, this is Caleb,” Delilah says, gesturing to the currently closed door of Caleb’s room. Just before Delilah can carry on with her explanation, her pager rings. “Ah, I’ve got to see to this. Oh!” She smiles Bucky’s way. No. No. No. No. “Nurse Barnes here can explain for me, you’re on your rounds, yes?”

Bucky does everything in his power not to grimace or roll his eyes. Apparently being one of two queer men in the paediatric nurse’s team, and the only one here today, means he has a thing for Captain America. Which. He totally doesn’t.

Bucky puts on his friendliest smile, something he has to dig deep for, and strides over to Captain America and the three members of his team. “No problem.” Bucky starts, pulling Caleb’s file out of the folder next to his door. Focusing on the kids is definitely something he can do. “This is our Caleb, he’s in here about twice a month, we’re hoping to get that down to once a month soon. He has an aggressive type of asthma, which usually results in bronchitis. Thankfully, he’s reacting well to treatment and is doing a lot better today than he was two days ago.”

All four of the people he speaks to drop their smiles and frown at the door. It’s always awful to hear about a kid spending a lot of his childhood in a hospital. Most of the other patients they currently have are day visitors or overnight observation. Caleb is one of their few frequent flyers.

“Is there any hope of him growing out of this?” Sam asks, his expression nothing but open and hopeful. Bucky gives himself an extra second for his brain to take in the kindness of him, before he’s back to focusing on his patients.

“There is some chance, it’s unlikely it’ll ever be properly gone, but hopefully with time he’ll have it less and less, and with this new treatment he should be able to live more comfortably with it.” Bucky smiles, trying to get the little group he’s apparently in charge of a reason to smile too.

He knows Caleb well, has been seeing him for three of the six years he’s been coming to this hospital. His parents are extremely supportive, and rarely leave his bedside when he’s in, and Bucky knows how much they dislike people pitying their situation.

“Caleb’s parents are very lovely. They know how lucky they are to be able to afford this type of treatment for their son,” Bucky feels the need to clarify, because the last thing he wants is for them or Caleb to feel like a charity case when they aren’t one. “They aren’t fans of feeling pitied, especially because they know Caleb will survive this, and will live a happy life. So, smiles on everyone!”

Bucky cringes to himself, knowing he has a habit of bringing his paediatric nurse attitude home. Something he absolutely needs to work on. These adults don’t need to be spoken to like children, especially not someone who’s seen the horrors Captain America has.

When he opens the door, Caleb’s face brightens. Bucky has a sneaking suspicion that he is Caleb’s favourite nurse, and he knows he doesn’t like any of the doctors. Caleb’s parents are also quite fond of him, aware of the soft spot he holds for Caleb too.

Bucky steps in first, turning around to hold up his hand to stop Captain America from coming in for a minute. “Bucky!” Caleb shouts, shuffling himself up on the bed and placing his hands face down on his legs.

Caleb is only seven and has a sharp knowledge about any sea creature you mention. His dark skin stands out against the pale white of the hospital sheets, and the shark patterned blanket he always brings puts life back into the room.

As all of the rooms are, there are different themes all over the walls. Caleb always asks to be put in the same room, and if he can’t be, then he asks to at least get one with some sort of ocean theme. The nurses are told not to play favourites, but it’s hard not to when Caleb is genuinely the sweetest little boy and is nothing but a bundle of joy despite his unfortunate circumstances.

His parents, Mr and Mrs Coleman, or Joshua and Ada, stand to greet him, as they always do, and lean in for hugs. Bucky is usually a ‘no touching unless in specific situations’ kind of person, but he feels like he knows these people, so he’s always allowed it.

“Caleb! You’ll never guess what,” Bucky starts, pulling away from Joshua with a smile to squat down next to Caleb’s bed. “I have a surprise.” Bucky whispers, grinning up at the boy who has a smile splitting his face.

“What! What! What!” He shouts, his words followed by a few coughs. But they don’t discourage him from bouncing on his bed enough to make it shake.

Ada chuckles and leans forward. “Calm down, baby.” She says, the sentiment dying on her lips with her smile and laughter.

Bucky grins at them all, rolling his eyes good-naturedly at Joshua who shakes his head in return. “We have a visitor here to see you.” Bucky whispers, standing back up to pull a chair over to Caleb’s bedside.

Before Caleb gets a chance to ask any more questions, Bucky opens the door for Captain America to step in, and watches Caleb’s face brighten even more. “No way!” Caleb gawks, his body practically vibrating on the bed. “Captain America?” He adds, his mouth wide open.

“Is it? Where?” Sam says, turning to look behind him, making Caleb giggle while he tries to get off the bed.

As if they were connected, both of his parents and Bucky all step forward to gently hold Caleb back on the bed. “I know you’re feeling better, champ, but you’ve gotta stay in bed, yeah?” Bucky says, giving Caleb an apologetic smile as the boy frowns. “Maybe you can get out for a quick picture in a bit, okay?”

With the compromise, Caleb beams again. “Okay!” He says, grinning at Sam who has taken the seat next to his bed and is leaning into chat.

Bucky entertains himself by checking Caleb’s vitals and logging a few more details into his file, in order to distract himself by how adorable it is to see Sam Wilson with kids. He just about loses it when he pulls out pictures of his nephews, Cass and AJ, to show Caleb’s parents, and laments that they would all get along great if they met.

He has to get out of here, if nothing else but to preserve his sanity. “Everything’s looking great in here.” Bucky says, mainly to Ada and Joshua, considering Caleb is more than busy with Captain America in front of him. His parents give him thankful smiles, before he slips out of the room.

Immediately, he’s faced with the three suited bodyguards. They look incredibly intimidating, but realistically Bucky knows they won’t hurt him. He gives them a quick smile before sliding past them to carry on with his rounds.

He’s only made it through one other patient when Joshua catches him by the arm. “Sorry, I know you’re busy,”

“Never too enough for Caleb.” Bucky answers, walking along with Joshua towards his son’s room.

They’re going past the bodyguards when Bucky sees Caleb sitting patiently in his bed with a cheeky grin on his face. “He wants to know if he can get up for a picture.” Caleb’s mom says, smiling at her son.

Bucky huffs in fake annoyance. “Always causing a stir aren’t you, Caleb?” He says, gingerly unhooking a couple cords from hooks so Caleb can more comfortably stand up. “Here we go then bud,” Bucky helps Caleb to stand, gently lifting him off the bed until his feet are steady on the floor. “Woah you’re getting heavy!” Bucky adds, chuckling when Caleb shakes back and forth next to Sam.

“Come on then baby,” Ada says, pulling her phone out and facing it at Sam and Caleb.

“Oh, one second,” Sam says, standing up from his chair to grab his circular leather case from one of his bodyguards. “Do you think you’re strong enough to hold this, Caleb?” Sam asks, lifting his shield out of the case.

Caleb’s mouth drops open and he lifts his hands to his face. “Oh my gosh!” He shouts, flicking between staring at his parents in shock and Sam in awe. “Really?”

Sam chuckles, stepping closer. “You look plenty strong, come on, give it a try.”

Bucky has no idea how heavy the shield actually is, but when Sam slyly places it on the floor in front of Caleb before letting him slide his hand into the handles at the back, Bucky expects it must be heavier than a seven-year-old can handle.

“Oh no,” Sam says, taking a tiny step back but still keeping his foot hooked around the shield so he’s holding most of the weight. “You’re gonna take my job! I might as well give up; you’re the new Captain America!” Sam says, raising and dropping his arms to his sides in a fake huff.

Caleb giggles, shaking with excitement. “Yeah! We can get all the bad guys!” Caleb adds, grinning up at Sam. “Bucky too!”

Bucky has to turn away, the display of Sam Wilson, the Captain America of their time, smiling down at a boy holding his shield. Only to turn away and smile at him too? Bucky is only so strong.

“Let’s take that picture, huh?” Caleb’s dad says, joining his wife and wrapping an arm around her as she angles the phone at her son. Bucky sees him secretly wipe a tear away from his eye, sniffling quietly.

Bucky steps out of the way and lets them take their fair share of pictures. Some serious, some with silly smiles, and some with Sam faking caught when Caleb looks at him. “Momma, can you and Daddy be in one?” Caleb asks, giving his parents his perfected sad eyes.

It’s a technique that sometimes works on them, as Bucky’s seen, and always works on Bucky, and he’s not surprised when it works now.

“Bucky, could you take one of us all, if that’s alright with Mr Wilson?” Ada asks, holding her phone out.

Sam shakes his head. “It’s Sam, please, and I’d be happy to take one with all three of you.” Sam stays where he is, kneeling on one of his knees as the Colemans come to stand behind them both.

Bucky takes Ada’s phone and steps back to take a couple pictures of them all. They give him big smiles, and Bucky feels his own face splitting in one as he takes the photos. “There we go!” Bucky says, lowering his hands and letting Ada take her phone back.

“Thank you so much, Sam.” Joshua says, holding out his hand to shake.

Sam clasps their hands together and nods at him. “Not a problem at all, it was lovely to meet you all,” He starts, releasing his hand to shake Ada’s hand as well. “You have a wonderful son.” Sam adds, before crouching back down to hold out his hand in a high five.

Everyone in the room is surprised when Caleb bypasses the high five and instead wraps his short arms around Sam’s neck in a tight hug. “Thank you.” Bucky sees him whisper, as Sam slowly moves to hug the boy in his arms.  

Sam answers back, in a voice just as small, “Of course.” And Bucky has to get out of here.

He steps towards the door, looking back to see Caleb beaming up at Captain America, all of his crooked baby teeth on show as he fiddles with his hands in front of him. Bucky grins, giving one last nod to Caleb’s parents before leaving the room.

The idea that he’s finally escaped the intensity of Sam Wilson’s perfection is only just forming in his head when; “Nurse Barnes? Is it?” One of the bodyguards says, and Bucky has to suppress a shudder. Has he done something wrong?

“Yes, what can I help you with?” Bucky answers, quashing the urge to fiddle with a pen in his hand.

“Mr Wilson would like to speak with you.” One of the women says.

Before Bucky can even come up with some reason why that would be true, Sam is stepping out of Caleb’s room and gently shutting the door behind himself. “I’ve told them to stop calling me that, but they never listen.” Sam says, shaking his head and chuckling to himself.

Bucky blanks, doesn’t know what this could possibly be. “Must be a respect thing,” He says, lifting his prosthetic hand to scratch behind his head. “They’re on duty I guess; most patients don’t listen when I tell them they can call me my name.”

“And what is your name?” Sam asks, a cheeky grin sliding onto his face.

Bucky can’t stop the confused grimace he feels form on his own face. “You surely heard Caleb say it.”

Sam’s grin widens. “But I want you to tell me what it is.”

Somewhere, deep down in Bucky’s brain, there’s a version of him screaming. “Right,” Bucky says, looking around because surely this isn’t happening. Captain fucking America is not flirting with him. “It’s James.”

Now Sam’s face twists into confusion. “That’s not what I remember Caleb calling you.”

Bucky can’t help it when his gaze drops and he smiles at the floor. “Well, I hope you remember, Sam.” He says, before turning and striding off towards the waiting room. He’s got patients to see, and so does Mr Wilson.

He hasn’t even made it ten feet when he spots Sherry at the Nurses station wink at him. Just great. That’s exactly what he needs.

****

Another hour passes, and Bucky, thankfully, doesn’t spot Sam again. He’s on his way to relief at thinking he missed Sam leaving, and won’t have to embarrass himself anymore, when he’s pulled aside by Sherry again.

“You need to get his number.” She hisses; her hand wrapped around Bucky’s right wrist in a death grip.

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Why would I ever get his number? What would I possibly need it for?” He says, doing his best to twist his arm out of her grip, to no avail.

Sherry rolls her eyes in return. “I heard you two flirting, you want him, he wants you, you’re both hot, just do it!”

Bucky finally manages to escape her hand and uses his left to rub at his right wrist. “You’re annoyingly strong, you know that?” Before she can butt in, he cuts back in. “And annoying in general. We were not flirting.” He says, jabbing his finger in her face. “And he’s gone anyway.”

Sherry laughs, actually belly laughs right in his face. “You are never beating the crush allegations.” Is all she says before she twirls away from him, literally, and disappears around a corner.

He has no idea what she’s on about, so just ignores her and gets back to work.

Only, he doesn’t. Now Sherry has gone and got in his head and all he can think about is Sam bloody Wilson. Were they flirting? Was Captain America flirting with him? Surely not. Bucky is nothing but a grumpy nurse who puts on a happy face to make sure his kid patients are okay. He’s nothing to look at, has a prosthetic, and doesn’t know what length his hair should be. There’s no way Captain America, Mr Perfect Face and beautiful smile was flirting with him.

Sherry is full of shit, and Bucky needs to remember that.

He spends another hour drifting through his work. The charts he writes are bad, he’s not listening to his coworkers enough, and the only place he’s actually mentally present is with his patients.

Just when he’s finally getting it all under control, focusing on his patients and ignoring all of the thoughts creeping around in the crevices of his mind, the man himself shows up.

“Bad time?” Sam says from behind Bucky, making him jump at the tiny bit of desk space he’s commandeered.

He’s caught Bucky staring at his computer, his train of thought lost, having forgotten which patient he’s charting. Bucky rubs his eyes, squeezing them shut underneath his hands. “No, no, just losing my mind, is all.” Bucky literally wants to die.

From behind him, he hears Sam snicker and turns to face him. “My perishing is funny to you?”

“No, never, I’m sure you’re struggling.” Sam grins back, his pretty gap-toothed smile on display.

Bucky turns back to his laptop, puts a full stop at his sentence and logs out. He can come back to this later, when he isn’t so tired, which honestly might never happen. “I am struggling, Mr Stars and Stripes.”

“Ouch,” Sam says, using his hand to grasp at his chest over his heart. “Painful, baby. That’s how it is?”

(If Bucky could focus on anything but the gorgeous man in front of him, he’d notice all three of Sam’s bodyguards rolling their eyes and tutting.)

Bucky feels his entire face flame red, every bit of heat migrating to his cheeks and ears. He must have heard wrong.

Deciding that he’s going to ignore whatever Sam said, because Bucky is sure it wasn’t any sort of pet name, he lets out a breath. “Can I help you with anything?”

Sam releases his chest, his shirt showing the bunching of where his fingers were for a brief moment. “Actually, there are two things,” Sam starts, his smile taking on that cheeky twinge Bucky has had the pleasure of seeing a couple times. “First, where is your charge nurse, Delilah? I’d like to thank her and all of you together before we leave.”

Bucky does not melt at the kindness; the genuine nicety Sam seems to constantly carry with him. He does not.

“And the second?” Bucky says, trying to seem like this whole ordeal is tiring him, when really, he’d love to listen to Sam talk forever.

If it were possible, Sam’s smile goes even more sly. “There’s a nurse called Bucky around here? I’d love to be introduced to him, James.”

It takes every ounce of Bucky’s willpower not to crumple. He just about fails, but then he sees Sam wink at him, and knows he has to keep this up. For no other reason than for the fun of it. “Don’t think there’s any nurses by that name here, sorry.” Bucky says, doing his best to bite back his smile.

Sam drops his head, shaking it at the ground with what Bucky thinks is a smile. “That’s how it is.” He whispers, raising his head again to smile at Bucky. “I’ll find Delilah, see you ‘round, James.”

When Sam steps away, Bucky heaves out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He watches Sam leave, the three bodyguards obscuring his view. This makes the most sense for him.

Bucky hides himself in a patient’s room when Sam says thank you and goodbye.

****

If anyone asked, he would tell them he forgot Captain America ever visited. That it was just so unnecessary to focus on the event, that his mind prioritised other things over it.

Really, Bucky replayed every interaction he had with Sam over and over and over in his mind, every single day. He could recite the interaction to presumable perfection if he wanted to. Thankfully, he never did. This was something for him to keep in his mind and think about privately. No matter how much Sherry tried to weasel her way in.

Even when months passed, and Bucky managed to find a multitude of other pictures of Sam in hospitals, posted by kids’ parents, and news outlets, he didn’t stop thinking about it. He even managed to track down the picture he took of the Coleman’s with Captain America, which immediately made him stop stalking the ‘CapHospitalVisits’ hashtag. He sort of felt like a creep.

But, even with that feeling, he couldn’t stop thinking about how Sam looked, squatted down with Caleb in his arms. Bucky could never scrub the image from his brain, the picture of Sam so gently, so quaintly holding Caleb in the hug.

God Bucky needed more hobbies. 

Everything came to a head when he saw a new patient name filed in the waiting room folder on his iPad.

‘AJ Wilson’

That’s just a coincidence. Plenty of people had that surname, it’s a common surname! The kid has nothing to do with Sam Wilson, even if Sam said his nephews were called Cass and AJ. This city is massive, Brooklyn by itself is massive! They aren’t related.

Only, when Bucky steps into the waiting room to collect his next patient, he spots them.

There, in the corner of the room, is a young boy clutching his arm close to his chest, with tears streaming down his cheeks, and his head resting on a woman’s shoulder. The pair of them sat next to, undoubtedly, Sam Wilson.

Fucking fabulous.

Bucky falters, his mouth left open as he stares at Sam, his sunglasses high on his cheekbones, his cap covered head leant back against the wall. The woman has her head resting on her palm, with another young boy sitting next to her, fiddling with the strands of her plaited hair that have come loose from her bun. The Wilsons. Brilliant.

“Mia Sheridan?” Bucky calls, his voice creaking on the last syllable. When he shuts his mouth and turns away from the pair of people heading for him, to look at Sam again, he sees Sam has heard him.

His goddamn nephew is here to be seen, and Sam is grinning at him. Bucky cannot be the one to treat him, he just can’t.

While he takes Mia and her mothers back to a room to be examined, his mind is stuck on Sam. He focuses on his patient, checking that her frequent headaches are nothing more than that, but he can’t stop his mind from drifting off.

He just barely manages his charts for his patient, Mia thankfully feeling a bit better and sent home with instructions of care and medication for her to take, but he is seriously struggling. Again.

“Bucky!” Sherry sings, twirling over to him. He doesn’t know when her twirling started, but he has to admit he enjoys it, makes him smile. But this can’t be good.

“Oh God, what?” He asks, bracing himself for whatever fresh hell she has for him.

Her smile is shit-eating, and she looks about as crazed as she does at the end of their shifts. Which, to say, is a terrible thing, considering they’ve only been here for three hours. “Your Captain is back!” She squeals, holding out one AJ Wilson file.

Absolutely not.

“Absolutely not.”

Sherry’s face drops. “But why?” She whines, her demeanor completely changing. “This is your chance! You’ve been sulking ever since-“

“I have not been sulking.“

“He left, and I’m sick of it! Just admit you have a crush on-“

“I literally don’t.“

“Mr Dreamy out there, and he’s so into you too so could-“

“He is not into me.“

“You just please just go out there and see him?”

Bucky sighs, knowing Sherry is two things. A damn good nurse, and the most aggravating friend who cannot ever drop anything. Ever.

“Fine, but I’m doing it for the patient, not for Captain America.” Bucky says, snatching the file out of Sherry’s hands.

Sherry giggles, clapping her hands and grinning up at Bucky. “Yes! Go get him!”

“You’re so annoying,” Bucky mumbles, pushing his chair in and logging out of his computer. “Like another sister I most definitely did not want.”

Sherry scoffs, shoving at Bucky’s prosthetic shoulder as he passes. “You love me, metal man. Gowan now, shoo.”

With another roll of his eyes, Bucky heads to the waiting room.

He sucks in a deep breath and pushes through the doors. All eyes go to him, as they do every time a nurse opens these doors, but all Bucky can focus on is the four pairs from the far corner.

With a faint sigh, Bucky calls out “AJ Wilson?” And watches as Sam scrambles out of his seat and helps AJ out of his chair.

Bucky holds the door open for them all, smiling as the woman and the two boys pile in together, with Sam lingering behind. “Fancy seeing you here,” He smiles, giving Bucky a careful wink as he passes.

“If you follow me, I’ll get you set up.” Bucky says, forcing his voice to sound professional, even though his legs want to give out and he wants to just melt into a puddle in front of Sam.

He leads them to a room down the far corridor, opening the door for the four of them to go in ahead of him. “Okay, AJ if you just get up on the bed, I can see what’s up, yeah?” Bucky says, smoothing his voice out into something gentle.

While he sanitises his hands and pulls a pair of gloves on, he watches as Sam lifts AJ under his arms onto the bed and pats his knees before stepping aside. “You’re in good hands, man, Nurse Barnes is great!” Sam says, pinching the side of AJ’s tear-streaked cheek.

“You know him?” The woman says, gesturing between them both.

Before Sam can butt in, Bucky grabs back control of the situation and smiles at her. “I’m Nurse Barnes, or Bucky if you’d like, I met Mr Wilson when he came to visit some of our patients a few months back.”

Bucky registers the sound of a quiet scoff from his left and ignores it. “Oh, okay, uh well I’m Sarah, this is AJ, obviously, and this is my other son Cass,” She says, using her arm around her son’s shoulders to pull him closer. “How bad does AJ look, Nurse Barnes?”

Another no on the Bucky front then.

“Let’s have a look,” Bucky leans over to grab a wheely chair, and adjusts it so it’s low enough for Bucky to sit below AJ’s eyeline. “Can you tell me what happened AJ? Or would you like your mom to explain?”

AJ’s eyes begin watering again, and he looks up to Sarah. “Mama, can you?” He asks in a painfully small voice.

Sarah’s face crumples and she steps closer. “Of course, baby,” She starts, and Bucky’s emotions flood when he sees Cass step over too, to be closer to his brother. “The boys were playing in the sitting room with Sam, probably play-fighting with the shield, yeah Sammy?” She looks over to Sam, and when he nods his head, she continues. “And I was in the kitchen, watching them over the counter. Then I saw AJ start climbing onto the couch, trying to get the jump on Cass I imagine,” She looks back to Sam again, their faces mirrored with worry as they look on to AJ wincing as Bucky pulls it this way and that to check its mobility. “I looked away for one second, and then I saw him on the ground, and heard him screaming.”

Bucky has grown some thick skin over his years of nursing, knows how to keep his brave face on in order to not scare parents, or kids. But he’ll never be able to hide how emotional he gets over parents and guardians worrying for their kids.

Another tear escapes AJ’s eyes when he looks at Bucky. “Uncle Sam would have caught me, but he was too far away,” He says, the words broken up with whimpers. “I know he would have caught me.”

Bucky sees Sam turn away in his peripheral vision and hears a tiny sniffle from him. When he turns back, his eyes are also wet. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch you, bud.” Sam whispers, reaching out to wipe AJ’s cheeks.

“It’s okay, Uncle Sam.” He answers, his face screwing up as Bucky rotates his arm.

Bucky winces with him, before gently placing his arm back into the protective position he originally had it in. “Sorry,” Bucky says, knowing how much pain AJ must be in. “But I have good news.”

It would be comical the way all of their faces light up, the similarities between them all showing so brightly. “You don’t have to lose the arm!” Bucky says, grinning as he takes off his gloves. “And trust me, it’s rough to lose an arm.” Bucky adds, wiggling his metal fingers into AJ’s face which makes him giggle.

“Woah!” Cass says, reaching out. “You have a metal arm? That is awesome!” Cass is just about to touch Bucky’s wrist, when Sarah pulls his arm back.

“Ask, before you touch, Cass.” Sarah scolds.

He goes shy, mumbling out an apology that Bucky brushes off with a laugh. “That’s alright, lots of kids find it scary, it’s nice to have kids find it cool, you can touch it.” Bucky says, pushing his sleeve up and holding out his prosthetic for AJ and Cass to touch and marvel at.

He gives them a couple minutes, patiently answering their questions, if nothing else but to momentarily distract AJ. When he eventually takes his arm back, he pulls his sleeve down and goes over to the computer in the room.

“So, you won’t end up like me,” Bucky chuckles when AJ lets out a small ‘aw’ at that. “But from what I can tell, you’ve probably fractured a bone or two.” Bucky says, grimacing at AJ.

“What does that mean?” Sarah asks, her face the picture of a worried mother.

Bucky smiles in a small attempt to placate her. “I’ll order an X-Ray, and a couple other things just to be safe, and then he’ll more than likely get a cast that he’ll have for about six weeks, and then some physical therapy to check everything is healed properly. It’s nothing major, honestly, he’s going to be just fine.”

Sam leans forward into AJ’s eyeline and smiles down at him. “You hear that, little man? You’re going to be fine!”

Bucky smiles on at the family in front of him, realising he really needs to call his sisters, it’s been too long since he spoke to them. “I can show you guys where the waiting room for X-Rays is, if you just follow me.”

It’s a short walk before Bucky is pointing to the signs above the doorways for Sarah and her sons to follow. “Thank you, Bucky,” Sarah says, her smile telling him more than her words do. Bucky mentally cheers at someone finally using his name. “Will we be with you afterwards?”

Bucky scratches the back of his head. “Possibly, it depends on who is free when the cast goes on, but I’ll try my best to be there, gotta show your incredibly brave son,” Bucky gives AJ a wink. “That his arm is gonna be all good.”

Sarah smiles again, gently holding both of her sons by the back of their heads and sighing down at them. “You guys know how to keep me young.” She says, before ushering them towards the sign pointing to the X-Rays waiting room.

She turns back to give Sam a look, and her eyes flick between them. “I’ll be there in a minute, Sar,” Sam says, and Sarah rolls her eyes.

“Mm-hmm.” She hums, looking the two of them up and down with a look only a sister can give. Man, Bucky misses his sisters.

Bucky turns to make his way towards the Nurses station, to get started on his charts for AJ, when Sam traps his arm and gently pulls him back to face him. All of the air rushes out of Bucky’s lungs, flooding into the space between them as he looks to Sam.

“So, uh, hah,” Sam starts, looking at his fiddling hands. “Is Caleb here right now? How’s he doing?” 

Bucky cannot believe, out of what had to be hundreds of kids, Sam remembered Caleb. “Yeah, he’s doing good, we’ve only seen him once this month, so fingers crossed that’ll be all for a while.”

The smile that blooms on Sam’s face is not endearing. 

“That’s good, that’s really good,” He says, his words dying towards the end. “I know it’s a weird time, but look,” Sam starts, shaking his head with a sigh.

Whatever this is, Bucky is not ready for it.

“I’ve been thinking about you since I was here last, and I don’t want to come across too forward, just in case I’ve read this wrong, but I’d like to maybe take you out on a date?”

Yep. Bucky was not, in fact, ready for that.

“You’d maybe like to?” Bucky answers, and what the fuck am I doing????

Sam’s face splits into a smile, the gap between his teeth on full brilliant display. God, this man. “I’d really like to, actually, but I don’t know if you heard the part about coming across too forward? Didn’t want to scare you.”

If anyone asks, Bucky doesn’t ever giggle, not even now.

“Can’t imagine anyone being scared of you.” Bucky says, grinning like some love-sick idiot.

Sam guffaws. “You do know what I do for a job, right? ‘S’kinda my deal to be scary.”

“Hard to be scared of someone who lets kids play with his shield.” Bucky replies, doing his best to quell his smile, and knowing full well he’s failing.

But it’s fine, because Sam is smiling at him too. “So, about that date?”

Bucky apparently hates himself, because he shoves his stupid foot into his stupid mouth once again. “How about asking me when your nephew isn’t here for medical attention.”

It’s hard not to take joy in the barely concealed embarrassment in Sam’s expression when he looks down to the ground and back up to Bucky again. “I know, I know, it’s a terrible time, but what other opportunity would I have?”

“You literally know I work here.”

Sam pulls his lips into his mouth and nods his head. “This isn’t going well, is it?”

Bucky grins. “From where I’m standing, it’s going great.”

Sam nods his head with more force, looking around. “I’m making a fool of myself, and my nephew needs me. Let me know if you have an answer I’ll like, and just sort of forget I exist if you have an answer I won’t.”

Sam swivels on his heels and rushes away, in the wrong direction, but Bucky doesn’t correct him. “If only I could forget you.” Bucky whispers under his breath, his cheeks hot and his teeth showing.

Right. Back to work.

****

As always, Bucky doesn’t notice time passing. He gets lost in his work, and when he next finds a clock, midday has come and gone two hours ago.

He’s got well-intentioned plans to find something to eat as well as a secluded corner of the staff lounge, when Sherry tracks him down again.

When he sees her smile from across the Nurses station, Bucky pulls a deep breath into his lungs. She comes skipping over and Bucky sighs. “Lord give me strength, why have you got that face on you?”

Sherry shrugs in an ill-attempt at nonchalance. “I have no idea what you’re on about!” Bucky counts to five in his head. “But I have it on good authority that one AJ Wilson is about to have his cast put on, and a certain someone wants you there.”

There’s no way Sam requested him, because he told Bucky to find him. So, this ‘good authority’ Sherry is on about is most likely bullshit. The sister he never asked for, he swears. Just another meddler in his life.

But, on the off-chance AJ or Sarah requested him, Bucky silently takes the file from Sherry and stalks off. He can hear her giggling in the background, followed by Michael, one of the other nurses whispering about him. Great.

Bucky logs into one of the computers and locates the room AJ is in for his cast fitting, then heads that way. He stops for the staff lounge to guzzle a cup of water, because he’s not sure when the last time he actually had anything to drink was, before finding the room.

“I hear some brave kid is losing his arm?” Bucky says as he steps into the room.

AJ lets out a loud laugh, clearly in much better spirits. “You said I wasn’t going to lose my arm!”

Bucky puts on a horrified face. “Oh no, then something has gone horribly wrong.” He adds, covering his face as he steps into the room and starts absentmindedly prepping for the cast. 

Both of the boys break down into laughter, Cass poking at AJ’s cheeks and calling him metal arm. Sarah stands back, shoulder to shoulder with her brother, as she smiles at her sons. “You’ll both be metal kids if you don’t quit it.” She says, but her happy face cuts all of the malice out of the threat.

“You better listen to your Momma; she’s got a mean right hook.” Sam says, grinning down at his nephews as he pulls Cass away from AJ.

Another nurse comes in, thankfully not Sherry, and she helps Bucky set up for the cast, bringing everything within reach for the plaster technician. One of them will be handing everything to the technician, while the other keeps an eye on AJ.

Once the technician comes in, they’re about to get to work when AJ pulls back. “Wait!” He shouts, clearly louder than he intended. “Uncle Sam can I hold your hand?” He asks, looking up to his uncle with his unharmed arm stretched towards him.

Sam looks to Bucky for confirmation, and when Bucky nods his head with a smile, he steps over to AJ. “Of course, bud.” They link hands, and the application begins.

It doesn’t take long, and soon enough AJ has a bright red cast on his arm, and he’s immediately looking at it with barely contained glee on his face. “Can people sign it?” He asks, and Bucky mentally adds a tally mark. Almost every kid asks that.

“Well, what would be the point if they didn’t?” Bucky says, smiling at AJ when he looks up at him.

AJ holds out his arm to his brother. “Cass, you first!”

Bucky starts packing things away, doing the minimal cleaning he can to help the cleaning staff later on. He’s just about done when he looks over to see Cass with his tongue sticking out, slowly writing his name big on the top of AJ’s cast.

He steps out the room, allowing them to settle and finish up before he goes through the aftercare instructions with them. He’s about to start his charts for AJ when Sam catches him, again.

“So,” he starts, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking on his heels. “You got an answer I’ll like? Or should I start trying to forget you too?” Sam asks, something Bucky can only call nerves displayed on his face. How this man can fight otherworldly beings, but be anxious in the face of nondescript Bucky, he’ll never know.

Bucky doesn’t answer, just looks around for a piece or paper, or something along the lines that he can use. He eventually finds one and pulls a pen out of his pocket. He quickly scribbles his number down on the piece of paper and folds it up.

When he reaches out to hand it to Sam, his face is open and bright. “There’s your answer.” Bucky says, giving Sam a wink and stepping away from him.

Another thirty minutes pass before Bucky has a free minute to go through care instructions with Sarah. He tracks them down and brings in written instructions for her. “So, this says everything you’ll need to do, but I’ll go through it with you too.”

“Thank you, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing. Sammy and I never had any casts growing up, and neither of you boys have, so I don’t know how to do any of this.” Sarah says, her voice taking on a twinge of panic.

Bucky gives her a reassuring smile. “That’s okay, it’s really nothing difficult,” He starts, before explaining everything. Keep it dry, don’t shove anything down the cast, no rough housing (Sarah gives all three of the men with her a look), and return to the hospital if he’s in any significant pain for a prolonged amount of time.

When Bucky says that Sarah’s face lapses back into panic. “We don’t live here, we’re just visiting Sam, will it be alright to take him to a hospital in Delacroix, or New Orleans?”

“Yeah! Yeah of course, that’s all good. It’s an easy fracture; they’ll know what to do no matter what possibly happens.” Bucky answers, giving what he hopes is a reassuring smile to the whole group.

Sarah nods her head, looking down at her son with shining eyes. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack, baby.” She says, crouching down to pull AJ into a strong but gentle hug. When she releases him, she quickly pulls Cass into a hug too.

“If you haven’t got any more questions, then you’re good to go!” Bucky says, looking between Cass and AJ, then Sam and Sarah. They’ve all got the same bright smiles.

“Thank you, so much Bucky.” Sarah says, holding the hands of her two boys.

Bucky shakes his head. “No problem at all, now you be careful AJ. I don’t want to see you again, yeah?”

AJ very seriously nods his head. “Yes, nurse Bucky.” He says, and Bucky just barely holds back a snort.

Sarah starts leading them away, leaving Bucky alone with Sam once again. She quickly turns back and gives Sam a look, one Bucky assumes was only meant for Sam to see, but Bucky catches it too.

Sam rolls his eyes before turning to face Bucky fully. “I hope I get to see you again, though?”

Bucky slowly shakes his head. “That paper not answer enough?”

Sam bobs his head side to side, looking up and around before settling his gaze back on Bucky. “I could do with a more solid answer.” He adds, a shit-eating grin gracing his glowing face.

Bucky tries not to let that work on him and miserably fails. He doesn’t say anything, just grabs Sam’s wrist and drags him down an empty hallway. “You’re insufferable.” Bucky mumbles, leaning back on the wall and cupping Sam’s face.

When their lips meet, Sam lets out a quiet groan, his hands sliding up Bucky's sides and wrapping around his back. They pull apart and Sam chuckles. “Worked though, didn’t it?”

Bucky doesn’t entertain Sam with a reply, instead pulls their lips back together and opens his mouth for him. “Insufferable.” He mumbles in between kisses, eventually folding and twisting his arms around Sam’s neck.

“Pretty hot though, right?” Sam adds, his wide smile making it hard for Bucky to get a proper taste of him.

Bucky hums, leaning in closer. “Gorgeous, sweetheart.”

Sam slightly drops lower, his arms digging into the bottom of his spine as he drags their bodies closer together. “Say that again, baby.”

The term of endearment has the intended effect, and Bucky all but melts under Sam’s touch. “We should stop, sweetheart.”

“I know, but I don’t want to.” Sam murmurs, kissing Bucky harder.

“Your sister is waiting for you.”

Sam hums. “Don’t care.”

Bucky finally manages to locate some self control, and pulls away from Sam, the back of his head gently hitting the wall behind him. “She’ll care, and I’m at work.” Bucky whispers, leaning in slightly to tease Sam, enough for their lips to softly graze.

Sam eventually relents, stealing one last kiss before he steps away from Bucky. “Fine,” He starts, straightening his shirt before leaning in to help Bucky straighten his scrubs. “But I’ll text you.”

Bucky knows he’s blushing and frankly doesn’t care. “I’m betting on it, birdy.” He doesn’t wait for the shock on Sam’s face to show before he’s turning away and striding off.

**** 

Unknown Number    18:34
You better not have given me a fake number baby

Bucky feels his cheeks hurting already when he has a chance to check his phone. He’s still got a few hours left of his shift, but he gives himself the rare benefit of answering a text.

I’d never do that sweetheart

Sliding his phone back into his pocket, Bucky heads for the waiting room, passing by Sherry on his way and grinning at her. She doesn’t even get a chance to ask what he could possibly be smiling about when he’s grabbed a file and opened the door to the waiting room.

**** 

How a month has already passed between Bucky giving Sam his number, and their first date, Bucky wishes he knew. They had every intention of going out much sooner, but then Sam had Captain America things to do, Bucky got put on a week of night shifts, and suddenly they were well into a new month and hadn’t seen each other.

Now, though, Bucky beams over the table at Sam. They decide against a restaurant, realising that Sam going to dinner with some random guy the media don’t know won’t go down well for Bucky, so have instead found themselves in Sam’s brownstone.

It’s a beautiful place; the type of home Bucky had always dreamt of as a kid but could never afford. The decorations fit the person Bucky has come to know as Sam Wilson. A loving brother, hence, the multitude of family pictures on the walls, a book worm, what with the floor to ceiling bursting at the seam’s bookcases, and a cat lover, judging by the white and black cat currently pawing at Bucky’s ankles.

“Fig, leave him be.” Sam scolds, reaching under the table in a vain attempt to get Figaro to come to him rather than bother Bucky.

Bucky reaches down too, gives Figaro his hand to rub his face all over. “Aw, he’s alright, just a little sweetie, aren’t you Fig? Just like Alpine.” When he gets a ‘meow’ in reply, Bucky all but melts.

Sam rolls his eyes. “He’s the only reason you’re here, huh?”

“Oh, of course, why else would I be here? Oh,” Bucky says, a cheeky smile inching onto his face. “Did you think this was something else? Oh god, that’s embarrassing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sam cuts him off. “You’re so funny.” Sam deadpans, but the sentiment is lost when he grins over at Bucky, his gap-toothed smile on beautiful display for Bucky. “I have a personal question.”

Bucky momentarily freezes, the urge to freak out and bolt settling into his bones. But he does his best not to show it, instead smiling tightly over at Sam. “That’s what we’re doing here, getting to know each other, so, shoot.”

Sam has the grace to at least show some hesitance. “What happened with your arm?”

Realistically, Bucky should have expected this, should have been prepared for this question. They’ve known each other for a month, and Sam has seen his prosthetic many times. But he naively thought he could go a bit longer without bringing up the story.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to, it’s just something he’s always been able to keep close to his chest. The grumpy demeanour he manages with his coworkers has stopped them from ever asking. Except Sherry, she seems to be immune to any type of person wanting to keep things to themselves, and she’s such a good person, that Bucky told her quite quickly.

“It’s not anything happy; I’ll tell you that. The rest of the evening might be spoiled if I tell you.”

Sam gives Bucky a look, one that tells him to stop. “Bucky, whatever it is, if you want to tell me, then I want to hear it.”

As always, Bucky takes a moment to appreciate how lucky he is to be in the presence of a person like Sam, someone so wonderful and good. “Okay, uh,” Bucky takes a moment to gather his thoughts. “I served when I was eighteen for a few years. Funnily enough I didn’t even lose my arm when I was out there, it was between tours. My dad and I were driving, I-“ Bucky clears his throat from the tears that always want to spill over. “I was driving, and some asshole rear ended me hard enough to cause a pile up, and then somehow, I still don’t understand how our car flipped. It was the only one that flipped, and we landed, and I couldn’t feel my arm, and I looked over and my dad, he had his eyes shut, and I couldn’t see him breathing, and I just, I just knew he was dead.”

Before Sam has the chance to reply, Bucky keeps going. He needs to get it all out now or he never will. “I lost my arm, my dad died, I got an honorary discharge from the military, and I had to figure out how to exist again. The only thing that kept me going was learning all about the medical procedures with my arm, and then I eventually went to medical school, which put myself in horrendous debt, but I chose peds, and I don’t really know why, I just always felt drawn to helping kids have better, safer lives, so.”

Finally, Bucky lets Sam speak. “That’s such an amazing way to look at things, Bucky,” He starts, using his fingers to gently trace the top of Bucky’s metal hand. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened to you,” He says, and Bucky looks into Sam’s eyes and doesn’t find pity but finds a man who knows what loss is. “You’re an incredible guy, Buck.”

Bucky isn’t great with any reaction to his story. “You got a sad story for me, sweetheart?”

Sam chuckles, using his hand to brush up Bucky’s metal bicep, wrapping his fingers around it, before leaning down and pressing a feather light kiss to Bucky’s metal fingers. “I know what you’re doing.”

Bucky gives him a look. “C’mon.”

Sam smiles back at him. “Okay,” With a grimace, Sam grabs Bucky’s flesh hand and twines their fingers together. “I was in the air force, obviously, where else would I get the wings, but I had to leave, after I lost my wingman, Riley. Williams. RW.”

Bucky doesn’t need to ask; he just knows when he sees Sam’s expression that Riley was much more than just a wingman.

“I loved him, love him. I don’t want that to make it weird, but I’ll always love him. He was such an idiot, always joking around, and when he fell, I couldn’t bear to be out there anymore. When I told them I was done, they closed the EXO-Falcon programme, let it all end with me. Until I got my hands on a pair of the wings again.” Sam says, and Bucky marvels at his ability to genuinely smile, even while they’re telling their depressing stories.

Bucky squeezes Sam’s hand. “I’m sorry about Riley,” Bucky starts, lifting their joined hands to kiss the back of Sam’s. “Do you have a picture of him? I’d love to see him.”

Sam’s face is a picture of shock. “Yeah. Yeah, I do, uh.” He gets up, and Bucky immediately follows, and is followed by Figaro, gently trotting behind him trying to keep up.

When they reach a small display in the middle of one of Sam’s bookshelves, Bucky sees a framed picture of a younger Sam Wilson, next to a white sandy haired man, who is grinning broadly over at Sam. It’s so obvious they were in love, so obvious that they meant everything to each other. “This is a beautiful picture.” Bucky whispers, hesitantly reaching out to touch the bottom of some items scattered around the frame. Some of Riley’s, Bucky imagines, some Air Force tokens, and a folded-up letter.

Bucky doesn’t ask about it, knows Sam will tell him when he’s ready, which might not be today. Might not be ever. Instead, Bucky steps behind Sam and wraps his arms around his waist and settles his chin on his shoulder. “Thank you for telling me about him.” Bucky whispers, turning into Sam’s neck to place a soft kiss on his smooth skin there.

Sam’s hands come up to rub against Bucky’s arms that are around his waist. “Thank you for listening.” He says, humming afterwards as he leans his head back and shuts his eyes.

They stand there for a bit, Bucky staring at the picture of Sam when he was younger, gazing lovingly at a man who isn’t with them anymore. Mentally, Bucky vows to look after Sam, for Riley, and promises to keep him as happy as he can, for however long he’s allowed to.

Sam breaks their silence, shuffling forward but keeping his hands connected with Bucky’s. “C’mon, let’s have dinner.”

****

Three months later

Sam’s soft skin, Sam’s honey eyes, Sam’s pretty smile, Sam’s gentle eyelashes as they brush against his cheekbones. Sam. Sam. Sam.

Every thought that goes through Bucky’s mind, every single thought he has while gazing at Sam is about how beautiful he is, inside and out.

There’s faint sunlight filtering into the room, through Bucky’s cheap linen curtains. Sam is laying here, in Bucky’s IKEA bed, his hands slowly running up and down Bucky’s chest and sides. He’s got a press conference in DC that he needs to fly in for, and while Bucky knows he can just fly with his wings, he also knows Sam likes a good two hours to get ready before these things.

It’s the middle of June, it’s just gone 5am, and Bucky has a shift starting at 7am. Alpine is lazing in her spot of sun behind the curtains. Sam needs to leave here by 8am if he wants to make it in time for the press conference at 9am. But Bucky knows he’ll want to be an hour early, so he’ll probably leave just before Bucky does.

Yet here they are, sharing quiet morning kisses, whispering nothing to each other, as the sun slowly filters into Bucky’s bedroom. “You have to get up.” Sam starts, shuffling closer and pressing a long kiss to Bucky’s lips, one that makes him sigh deeply.

He knows he does, and so does Sam, but that doesn’t stop him from wrapping his one arm around Sam’s body and pulling him ever closer. “So do you.”

Sam finds a way to disagree with a single sound, while he slowly melts Bucky with his tongue. “Press conference, shmress shmronference, I want to spend all day in bed with you.”

And god does Bucky want to do that too. Wants nothing more than to spend every waking second exploring Sam, and every sleeping second next to him. “I’d be a terrible boyfriend if I made you miss an important press conference, Mr America.”

Bucky gets the exact reaction he wanted when Sam groans and pulls away. “You know I hate being called that.” Sam says, completely removing his hands from Bucky’s body.

The laughter springs itself up his body without him even noticing, and he belly laughs at the way Sam tries to roll away from him, the sheets tangling around his naked legs, but ultimately comes right back to flatten Bucky onto the bed. “Why would I ever stop when this is what I get for it?”

“Oh, baby,” Sam says, a cheeky grin on his face. “You will not like what I’m about to do.”

Bucky highly doubts that. “Prove it then.”

Sam lowers himself down and Bucky prepares for a kiss, only for Sam to stop a mere inch from his lips and just smile. “You’ll regret that.”

Bucky is late to work, considering he has to check the straps on Sam’s wing-pack are tight enough, and give him a goodbye kiss that lasts longer than it should, before he flies off to DC. Sam is smiling widely in the press conference that plays on the waiting room TV, and Bucky has to hide his grin behind a coffee cup all day.