You're My Mission

“I met Steve when I was a kid. He’s in my memories as far back as they go, and I don’t think that’s just because they’re still a bit patchy,” Bucky told me as we laid on Sam’s spare bed next to each other. I was to his right, allowing our hands to entwine as he finally shared his history with me.

“Where exactly was this?” I wondered, staring at the ceiling while imagining how cute Steve and Bucky would have looked when they were children.

“Brooklyn,” Bucky answered immediately. I personally was glad to hear him have such self-confidence, but I realised it must have been quite a relief for him too. “Where did you grow up?”

“Miami,” I said before giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “But I want to focus on you for now. Who else did you grow up with?” I turned to look at Bucky just in time to see his face falling.

“I had two younger brothers and a little sister, but they’re all dead now. One from the war, one from disease, and one from old age,” he replied with sorrow. I felt a pang of grief as I tried to imagine what that must feel like. “I’m glad I still have Steve, though. He’s my best friend, always has been.”

“Even though you attempted to kill him at one stage?” I asked, trying to touch on Bucky’s time as the Winter Soldier.

“He forgave me for that,” Bucky said in a light tone, nudging me gently with his elbow.

“I bet you two were a hit with the ladies back then,” I remarked, prompting Bucky to get back to talking about his past now that I knew he was truly acceptive of his more recent actions.

“Haven’t you seen a picture of Steve before the super soldier serum? It’s obvious he was a gangly, awkward, shy man. I could hardly get him to say more than two words to a lady, it was painful,” Bucky answered with a groan at the memories. I could only picture the current version of Steve acting timid around a group of women and it was rather entertaining, considering how chiselled and self-assured he was now.

“So you found it easy to be around women?” I guessed.

“You could say they liked me,” Bucky said before pausing. I looked across at him and noticed that his eyes had gone into a daze. “Back when things were simple, when there was nothing really to worry about, I could always find a date and take them somewhere special to have a fun day out. I miss that…”

I let go of Bucky’s hand at his comment and used my left arm to prop myself up next to him. He came out of his daydream and met my eyes, clearly uncertain as to why I had shifted.

“You miss going out with lots of women?” I asked for clarification, ensuring I kept a teasing tone. “What’s wrong with having just me?” Bucky’s face softened as he understood my jest.

“I meant I missed the carefree aspect of those times, not the ladies,” he explained before he reached up and cupped my jaw with his metal hand. “And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being with you.”

After those sweet words it was easy to forget about feigning how insulted I was and instead relax into his kiss. Bucky’s other arm shifted beneath me, then curled around my waist and helped to pull me in closer. His urgency flattered me and my lips spread into a grin, regrettably breaking our kiss but providing an opportunity to address the question pressing at the back of my mind.

“Bucky?”

“Mhm?”

“Why are you with me?” I questioned quietly. I knew it was going to dampen the mood but I just had to know before I pursued him further.

“What do you mean?” he asked, sensing that I wasn’t giving him the entire picture.

“You just practically said that you used to date a lot, as in you didn’t settle down. And I’m, what, the first woman you’ve met since you started remembering who you are… So why me?” I explained.

My heart skipped a beat as Bucky’s gaze fell away from my face and to his side instead.

“Why you?” he breathed, eyebrows crinkling as though he was puzzled that I was even asking him such a question. The action reminded me of him near the end of his time as the Winter Soldier, when he was lost and confused. “I think the main reason is because you stayed by my side through everything. You saw the horrible person I was, and you saw me when I was broken, and you let me have some space and time to fix myself. And even after all that, you’re still here, you still like me… It all makes me feel good inside, and that good feeling disappeared when you left us at the beach house. That’s when I knew.”

I smiled and my stare dropped downwards to hide the emotion I was feeling. I hadn’t had butterflies for a damn long time, but Bucky had given them life. My fast breathing was brought to my attention when Bucky tightened his grip on my waist to guide me onto his chest. My eyes met his and once again his cool touch caressed the side of my face and lured me into a kiss. Blonde hair tumbled over my shoulders and blanketed us as I shifted a hand onto his firm chest, snaking it down his ribs and then finding his waist. Bucky responded positively and deepened our kiss, adding more pressure to the small of my back.

“As much as I’d hate to interrupt your heart-to-heart talk,” a voice came from the doorway and I broke apart from Bucky with a gasp. Clearly my hair hadn’t been a sufficient shield for Steve. “We’ve got a visitor. There’s an urgent meeting we need to get to at the Avengers Tower.”

“Right, got it,” I muttered as I went to push myself off Bucky’s chest. He didn’t let me move far, slinking his robotic arm around my waist so I could only arch my back away from him.

“Jesus, Steve, you can call it as you see it,” Bucky replied. “Unless you still don’t know what a kiss is like.” I glanced up at Steve to see his reaction to the friendly jab but Steve’s face had hardened.

“The person out there probably shouldn’t know about this. Keep your relationship a secret from everyone until you can trust them, okay?” Steve said lowly before stalking down the hall. Intrigued, I slipped out of Bucky’s hold and spent a quick few seconds in front of the mirror to rearrange my hair, then followed Steve to find a familiar redheaded woman awaiting us.