dysmorphics | open post

Bucky stared wide-eyed at the hidden stash of items in front of him, shocked at everything she was able to get her hands on. He'd thought everything from before, especially from the War, was gone for good. Bypassing the Winter Soldier related items, he reached for the letters he'd written. He looked them over carefully, not opening them, just appreciating they were there.

Finally, he looked back at Steph. "You know, the whole time I was in the war I just wanted to go home to you?" he asked, his voice soft and laced with emotion. "Until you came barging in and pulled me off a table, at least. Then I just wanted to stay with you, wherever you went."

Steph hugged Bucky from behind while he looked over the letters, resting her chin on his shoulder. "And I wanted to be where you were. That was why... the plane..." She'd been ready to join him in death, the one place it seemed they could finally be together. Thankfully, neither of them had been meant for death just yet.

She slowly pulled back after a moment, leaving him to his thoughts while she rummaged through the drawers. No fancy surprises this time, just a change of clothes. "Gonna have to throw these in the wash, it's been a few years." But she'd been ready, once again hoping to bring him home.

It took another five years, but here they were.

Eventually, Bucky placed the letters back on the shelf before turning and crossing the room to Steph, sliding his own arms around her as he pulled her close and pressed a warm kiss to her lips. "I love you, Steph," he said once he broke the kiss. "And I'm gonna marry you, yeah? Legally, not just me thinking of you as my wife. And I'm never gonna lose you again." They had enough separation for several lifetimes. There were entire Shakespearean and Greek tragedies that dealt with less than what the two of them had.

But, as far as Bucky was concerned, that wasn't going to happen again. Not even by another bout of magic. He'd just have to out-stubborn the magic or some shit. He didn't know what he'd do then, but he would just have to figure it out if the time came.

Hopefully, that time would never come, though.

"But I sure hope you don't expect me to sleep in this room."

Edited (of course I noticed a typo as I hit post) 2025-12-07 17:16 (UTC)

Steph laughed. "Of course not. But I expect us to fuck in it." She kissed him again. "Love you, dumbass. Just say the word and I'm using every favor and influence to make things official." She was never the type to use her identity as Captain America to get ahead, but for Bucky, she would do anything.

And technically, since he was Blipped, they might be eligible for whatever help the government extended. Once they decided to do something, anyway. From the news it seemed like those in power were as confused as everyone else. The Avengers might actually need to step forward and put some pressure on the situation. And by that, she meant herself. She was still the leader until she hung up the shield, even if Tony's side of the group had been what the government recognized as legitimate because of the Sokovia Accords.

Reminded of that, Steph cupped Bucky's cheek, serious for a moment. "You know they're gonna put you on trial if you come out of hiding, yeah?" She knew that, and she'd started to prepare for it five years ago. But it was his life, and only he could decide what to do with it. "I could always disappear. I was thinking of leaving the shield with Sam anyway."

"Oh, fucking in here I can do," Bucky chuckled and kissed her again. It would be a long, long time before he got tired of being able to kiss her. If ever. "I love you, too, punk. And I'll make it official anytime you want."

But at the mention of an impending trial, Bucky sighed and let his forehead rest against Steph's, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I know. T'Challa and I talked about it some when I was back in Wakanda. I'd rather face a trial than make you live in hiding, though. It's a shit way to live." He knew Steph had been on the run before, but living that way for years, seemingly with no end in sight? That was different. "Besides, you've got too many people who care about you. So I guess we'll have to get married soon so they can't make you testify against me."

"I'll call my lawyer, then." Steph kissed Bucky again, just because she could. She wasn't going to get tired of that either. "But after we eat. And shower. And fuck a couple of times."

She would have to take care of Avengers business afterward too. If the public needed an official statement, then they were getting a statement. She'd have to be strategic about that though. Probably need to review the provisions of the Accords as well, just to cover their bases. She'd have to call Rhodey too.

For now though, they had time. Even if they didn't, she was going to fucking make time. They earned it. The rest of the world could wait, for once.

"Too bad we can't just say we've always been married. Did you know there's a whole conspiracy theory about that? That we already were married before the war?" She normally avoided looking up stuff about herself on the Internet, but there had been a particular stretch of time after the Snap that she read everything that she could about him, even the weird Internet stuff.

"What does it take to get married anyway? Is that something your lawyer could just do for us?" That'd make things simpler, at least. "But if you want a full wedding instead, I'd do that, too, sweetheart. Anything you want."

Steph really did have a lot of people who cared about her, after all. Tons of friends, and with the losses they'd had recently, she might want to give them something happy. Or she could just want to keep it between the two of them. Bucky would just be happy to marry her.

After all, Bucky didn't have many people. Steph, obviously. Maybe T'Challa and Shuri, depending on how you tilted your head. That was pretty much it.

"I mean, they'd be right if I wasn't such a dumbass," Bucky shrugged. "I've known I wanted to marry you for years before the war. There was no one else for me, and I knew it."

"In New York? We gotta apply and pay for a marriage license, then there's a 24-hour waiting period before we can have a ceremony. We can just grab a witness and do it at the courthouse." Steph had dreamed of a proper wedding when she was younger, but now she just wanted to make things official. Besides, with all the losses, it didn't seem like the right time for a big, fancy wedding — and people would expect Captain America to have a big, fancy wedding. The planning and logistics would be the stuff of nightmares.

"So we'll need a few days. We still gotta get rings, and something to wear." A few days might not be a lot of time, but Bucky was right, they had to get ahead, before they put him on trial. Probably even before her next official public appearance.

Bucky couldn't help smiling. Sounded like she'd already looked into it, after all. And it might not be a big affair, but he was standing there planning his wedding to the love of his life. Who wouldn't smile at that?

"So, you wanna get started tomorrow or the next day?" he asked, more than ready to be legally tied to the woman in his arms. "Clothes and rings shouldn't be that difficult. If we can find places that are open." That part might be the tricky thing. "Actually, should we get rings together or get them for each other?"

Either way, Bucky had an idea. He might be able to convince Shuri to whip him up a vibranium ring.

"I guess we can take a few hours off tomorrow to get started," Steph answered with a genuine hint of reluctance. It wasn't that she didn't want to get married, but it was very nice to stay cooped up in Bucky's arms like this. Of course, it could be argued that they'd have all the time after everything was legalized, so there was that for motivation. "Shit, the paperwork. You don't happen to have an actual passport?" She didn't even know where hers was, or her other IDs for that matter, since she'd been using fake ones up until Thanos rolled in.

His question about rings perked her up though. She had an idea too, which was why she answered, "I think getting them for each other would be really sweet." If he got her a cheap plastic one she'd wear it with pride for as long as it lasted, and the next one after that.

But her? She was gonna use that favor with T'Challa for a vibranium ring. Nothing but the best for her man.

Bucky paused then, frowning a bit. "Uh, I don't think I've had an actual ID since the 40s. I'll get in touch with T'Challa about that. Knowing a king might be useful." So what if he ended up with some kind of Wakandan ID? As long as it was a legal ID it should be good enough. "I'll get it worked out somehow. Nothing's gonna stop me from marrying you."

The thought of the other things brought his smile back to his face, though. "So all we really need is to get an ID for me worked out, some clothes, and some rings." And Bucky's mine was already churning (albeit slowly, since he wasn't the artistic one) about Steph's ring. He would probably end up having to get her a temporary one while Shuri made one for him. If he could talk her into it.

He could probably talk her into it. She would tease him for how much he perked up any time Steph came to visit.

"Good." Steph kissed Bucky again, holding him to that promise that nothing was going to stop them this time. "I'll marry you with a plastic ring if I gotta." The real ones might take a while — she certainly didn't want to pressure T'Challa with her favor, not when he had to be dealing with the aftermath of the battle and the Blip — so she was fine officially tying the knot with a temporary ring. "Just been waiting all my life to be Mrs. James Barnes, you know?"

The universe better not fucking mess things up for them again, or she was using that damn Time Stone. It wouldn't be the first time she'd attempt something reckless and impossible for him. She loved him that much.

"Good to know. Cause I don't exactly have much money to put into a ring for you." The man had been literally living in a hut with some goats before the Blip, after spending years on the run or in cryo. He hadn't had a bank account or ID since the 40s, so he was really banking on being able to convince Shuri to help him out one last time. Then the sad white boy would be out of her hair.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I know," he kissed her quickly again, just because. "I've been waiting my whole life to make you Mrs. Barnes. It was always either gonna be you, or I was gonna be one of those old guys who never settled down and got married." Those were the only two options Bucky had ever considered. Steph or no one.

"Darling, you can make me a ring out of thread and I'll take it," Steph assured him. "And I've got enough money to start us off. They gave me my backpay, and I've sold some art over the years."

She was being modest. She had a lot of money, mostly from her art, and she hadn't even peddled her war era works, which would've sold for a fortune. She didn't want Bucky to feel emasculated by it, though. As much as she appreciated the leaps society had made in terms of gender equality, they were still products of their time. Hell, deep down she still wanted the traditional dream of marriage, kids, and a picket fence.

At his declaration, she gave him a small, rueful smile. "Me too. And not only because the dating pool for our age group is shit." She laughed. "And the one time I even considered trying to move on, you came back from the dead to stop me from making that stupid decision. So yeah, it's Mrs. Barnes or nothing."

"I wish I had more to offer you, but you might end up with a ring not much better than that." Bucky knew he wasn't exactly a trophy husband. Broke, traumatized, and getting put on trial at some point. But Steph was willing to ignore all that to be with him, and that was all he could really ask for, wasn't?

At least there were one or two good things that came as sort of... side effects of Bucky's final mission? The mission itself was absolutely not good, but it led to his escape. And it kept Steph from starting to see Sam.

"There's one thing I'm sure of, though," Bucky started with a warm smile on his face. "Ma and Becca would both be thrilled that we're getting married. They loved you." His dad, too. In his own way. But his dad was definitely a man of the era, nothing like the caring, attentive ones he'd witnessed since getting free.

"I don't care. I just want you," Steph insisted. To prove her point, she kissed him again, but this time she pushed forward until his back was up against the nearest wall. It felt a little familiar; they had fought years ago, after all. But this time there was no violence, only love and desire.

After a while of some heated kissing, she pulled back to grin at him. "My Ma too. I'm pretty sure she knew." Sarah Rogers had definitely trusted Bucky enough to give him a spare key to their house so he could come over when she worked nights and keep Steph company. Or when Steph was sick. In fact, she'd only raised an eyebrow the first time she caught them in bed together; Steph had been down with a fever and she came home to find Bucky curled around her daughter like an extra blanket. If she ever confronted Bucky about any of it, Steph never found out, nor was their friendship discouraged. "They'd probably be laughing at how long it took us to get here though."

Bucky moaned into the kiss, having absolutely no problem with Steph taking charge and pushing him into the wall. He actually thought it was incredibly hot, which he showed by kissing her back just as deeply, letting his hands wander down to her perfect ass again.

When she broke the kiss, however, he chuckled a bit. "I don't think anyone's taken this long before, sweetheart." They were, after all, over 100 years old, and had known each other since they were kids. Not many people could have taken as long as they did. "I don't know if it makes more or less sense for them to let me crash at your place so often if they knew I was gonna marry you one day." Either they just put a lot of trust in him to not try anything with her, or they just accepted it was inevitable between them.

Though, to be honest, if he'd thought she had feelings for him back then he absolutely would have ended up trying something.

"They were probably counting on it, but we were idiots." And shit happened, which got in the way of everything.

A small smile bloomed on her face then, and she ran her fingertips down his chest. "So... those nights you came over... did you ever...?" Saying things out loud was still something she had to work on, which was a little ironic given her potty mouth and filthy imagination. But she was wondering if he'd ever thought of trying anything. Or if he'd gotten a boner while they'd cuddled. She certainly had her moments, but women had the luxury of being able to hide them. Or at least she did back then. Now there was no way she could hide how her nipples pebbled under his shirt, aroused by him groping her ass, as it was extra obvious now that she had generously-sized breasts.

"Did I ever what?" Bucky started, red in the face but smirking a little as he pulled the back of her shirt up enough to let his hands roam over her bare ass. "Have to get out of the bed cause I realized I woke up pressing wood against you? Again?" It happened so often when she wasn't sick that it became the norm for Bucky to be the one to get up first on the vast majority of mornings when he slept over. He wasn't much of a cook, so he'd do things like get the coffee started before Steph woke up, so she could have a cup first thing if she wanted. Or wash up any dishes they hadn't washed the night before.

"I've got news for you, sweetheart," he leaned in to nip at her lower lip quickly, just because it was right there, tempting him. "I was always getting hell from my folks for sleepin' in all the time. It was only when I was at your place that I turned into an early bird, so you wouldn't be uncomfortable waking up and realizing I was dreaming about making love to you."

Currently, Bucky was an early bird again. And also a night owl. He tended to have issues with sleep in general, but that day and a half he spent curled up against his wife was the best sleep he'd ever had.

"That would've moved us along faster." Steph had always been an 'act first, ask forgiveness later' kind of person, and especially so before the serum, when she believed her time was running out. She might not have risked making a move on Bucky, deeming their friendship too important to put to the test for something less permanent, but she'd have acted on her feelings if he'd given her a clear sign that it wasn't one-sided.

Fair was fair though, so she confessed, "I also had, um, incidents. Several of those times you checked on me in the bathroom if I was alright." The thing about being woken up so easily when a room gets too cold or a random coughing fit was realizing that, sometimes, hands and legs ended up in certain places while sleeping. But she had been too afraid of ruining things to tell him back then.

She wasn't afraid anymore, she'd just gotten so used to repressing her feelings and sexual urges, especially during the war, that even with them practically married now she would blush or find it awkward to speak her mind.

Bucky couldn't help laughing softly as he shook his head, rolling his eyes at the pair of them. "Fuck, Steph, if I had known, I woulda dragged you to the courthouse on your eighteenth birthday," he said, grinning at her. His hands slid up to grip her waist, pulling her shirt up with them. "Earlier, if we coulda gotten our folks to sign off on it."

Would Bucky have been willing to be a married high school kid? For Steph, he would have. Besides, it was uncommon but not unheard of. Sure, usually those high school weddings were followed by the wives leaving school for a few months (or forever), but that wouldn't have been why Bucky would have done it. He would have married her young just because he loved her.

Instead, he would be marrying her old, and he was just as happy about it. "Hell, there were already rumors about us I kept having to shoot down. And everybody knew that if you were absent, I was the one to check with." And also that if she was absent, Bucky was gonna be in a more surly mood than usual since it tended to mean Steph was sick again.

Did Bucky mean for Steph to take off his shirt, because she took his movements as a nudge to do so. They had a food delivery coming but maybe they could have a quick one.

"Ma would've given her blessing, I'm sure. She was always worried about leaving me alone." Not just leaving to go to work alone, but being alone after she passed. "I would've wanted better for you, but I also would've been selfish enough to take it. Anyway, you could just remarry after I die."

That still wouldn't have stopped her from trying to enlist. Being married automatically disqualified her from the Army Nurse Corps, but she'd have forged papers just to get in, if she'd had to. Unless he'd left her with a child. That would've changed everything.

She kissed his cheek. "Well, better late than never." Then a thought occurred to her, and she laughed. "Shit, the shippers are gonna have a field day when word gets out."

Really, he'd just been enjoying touching her, but Bucky would absolutely not complain about her stripping down in front of her. He let his hands slide further up her body then, thumbs brushing over the sides of her breasts. "There wasn't anyone better for me, though," he said, then leaned in to kiss her again.

"I told you, it's you or no one. I wouldn't have found anyone better, and if the worst happened I wouldn't have remarried." of that, Bucky was absolutely certain.

Pushing off the wall that Steph had pinned him against, Bucky maneuvered her back towards the guest bed, never taking his eyes or hands off her. "Yeah? You gonna tell me what shippers are?"

This was one of those times Steph was grateful for the serum. She couldn't do any fancy maneuvering with her left arm yet, and there was some soreness around her ribs when Bucky lowered her to the bed, but she felt pretty good and raring to go otherwise.

"A ship is a pairing people support, you know, from the word 'relationship'," she explained as he got settled above her. She didn't rush him despite her excitement, or the fact that their food delivery would arrive anytime now, since he also had his injuries to be mindful about. It was definitely his turn on top though. "Apparently we've had people rooting for us since the war. There are books and fanart and shit."

She'd been avoiding stuff about herself on the Internet the best she could over the years; it had been easy during her time with the Avengers, since she only needed to ask JARVIS to filter out what she didn't want to see. The last five years, however, had her lurking in those spaces by choice. There was so little she had left of her best friend and the love of her life that she'd pounced on whatever there was of him she could find, and the Internet had some gems. For instance, there was an old photo from the war, a candid post-mission shot of her and the Howlies, at the Smithsonian. Some rando had snapped a pic of it and posted the caption: Get yourself a man who looks at you the way Sergeant Barnes looked at Lady Liberty. She'd spent the night crying after she found it.

Bucky rid himself of his own underwear before following her down to the bed, chuckling softly as he rolled his eyes. "Seriously? Even strangers knew and we didn't? We really are idiots."

But, they were idiots that were naked in bed together. Again. And they were also idiots who finally figured it out, it just took a whole lot of crazy to get there. "You think there's anyone that'll actually be surprised?" he asked as he slid his hand between her legs, rubbing at her clit with his thumb as he just barely teased at her entrance with a fingertip. Lowering his head, Bucky used his mouth to tease at the nipple of one of her full breasts.

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