dysmorphics | it's you and me up against the world, it's you and me

Steph squeaked, then laughed even as tears sprung to her eyes. She'd said goodbye to Bucky before, sure. This time was different though. It wasn't just farewell, but also letting go, and it felt bittersweet. "Do it again," she said, sniffling. "I'll miss you, dumbass. But I'm really glad you made it outta the war."

Now he had a shot at the life — at the future — that should've been his. With his folks, with Becca, with his own family. And she hoped she could give that to her Bucky too, even if it would have to look different. They both deserved as much.

★☆✪☆★
How long Steph held on to Bucky while she cried, she had no idea. He didn't make a move to pull away, so she stayed for as long as he allowed it. She apologized, and she told him how mad the younger Bucky had been at her for making the world believe his Steph was dead, and she apologized again. She was incoherent at times, overwhelmed by emotion, but after a while of that she felt as though a great weight had been lifted off her soul.

The guilt was still there though. Now including the guilt over making him feel abandoned. She would just have to learn how to live with that, somehow.

Bucky laughed softly as he lifted Steph again, and even spun in a circle with her, just because. "I'll miss you, too, punk. You'll always be my best friend, it's just gonna look different." Who knows? Maybe his Steph would hang onto that stone or whatever they used to show up there, so they'd be able to check in with the other pair on occasion.

Steph was going to be taken care of, that was what was important to him. She was going to have much better medical care and Bucky couldn't picture a world where a version of himself wouldn't put her above everything else.

★☆✪☆★
The older Bucky was rubbing circles on Steph's back with his good hand trying his best to soothe her. He hadn't wanted to make her feel worse, but he'd definitely managed to anyway.

But he stood there and let her vent while he held her, listening to everything she said, even when some of it didn't make any sense. Bucky knew she needed to get it out, and he told her again and again that it was okay, he understood. If anyone knew what it felt like to blame himself for things that he logically knew weren't his fault, it was Bucky Barnes, former mind-controlled assassin for several decades.

"Maybe we can send each other letters and photos somehow," Steph mused, hopeful. Time travel had been the stuff of fiction but then it turned out to be possible, so maybe there could be a way to communicate across time and space too? She would be interested in what he was up to, how different their timelines turned out, if he would end up having any kids.

Then she got an idea. "How long are you gonna be here for? You gotta let me sketch you before you go." One last present, in case they wouldn't get the chance to see each other again. "And we gotta go to Coney Island. It's so different now, and so expensive! But we used to spend a lot of time there." And unlike their older counterparts, it hadn't been decades since they'd been there last.

★☆✪☆★
"Sorry, I've been such an ass," Steph said, finally pulling away to look at Bucky's face. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but through that she managed a weak smile. "Come on, your turn. Lay it all on me."

She'd gotten her chance to vent, now she was giving him his. She hopefully had a better grip of her emotions than earlier and could avoid having another panic attack.

"Hey, the fact that me and you are both here right now means anything's possible," Bucky said with a grin. After all, they were supposed to be doing their own things back in the 1940s, not standing around a kitchen in the 2020s.

He finally picked his mug back up and took a sip of his hot chocolate, eyes going wide. "Holy shit this is good! You sure it's just that powdery stuff?" And she'd said it was a microwave she heated it in. He'd heard mention of those in one of the tech magazines lying around the office, but those things were brand spankin' new and about as tall as he was, not something small to sit on the counter.

But, after her question, Bucky brought himself back to the present. "I think we're gonna be here a little while," he started, his smile turning just a touch sad. "She wants to be here for the trial, that way she can testify for him. So we should have plenty of time for Coney Island and whatever else you wanna show me. Maybe I'll even let you sketch me."

★☆✪☆★
Hearing the way Steph poured her heart out about everything somehow mended a lot of the anger in the older Bucky. Actually hearing her reasoning, listening to her explain all the guilt she carried and how she thought things were her fault (even though they weren't) made him understand a lot more of why she made the choice she made. And it wasn't because she thought he was too far gone after all. It all blended together with how much he thought about the younger Steph being exactly who he needed in his life.

But he'd also been listening to the tone of the other two in the kitchen. He hadn't paid attention to the words, but he'd caught the occasional laughs and how light they sounded.

"We've both been through a hell of a lot, Steph," Bucky started, then sighed as he tried to pick his words carefully. "And... I know I shouldn't feel guilty about the things they made me do, like you shouldn't feel guilty about anything else that happened, but I don't know. Maybe we're too bogged down with it? I've always needed you, and I always will, but what if we've both got too much darkness for that?"

He paused again, hearing his own voice, but younger, excitedly say something was good, followed by his girlfriend's laugh. It made the corner of his mouth turn up just slightly. "What if you did the right thing by going back, so we each still ended up with each other, but ones that bring a little more light than dark?"

Steph looked relieved. "Oh, thank God. I've been reading and studying, so I'd know what to say when I would testify as her, but there's so much that happened that I don't really get." She had never been in the Army, never been an Avenger, never fought HYDRA, never been involved in politics and espionage. She was ready to say anything that would help absolve him, but it would've involved a lot of bluffing and lying. "Like this law called the Sokovia Accords was passed to regulate the activities of enhanced individuals, and she refused to comply with the terms, and he got framed for murder while all that was going down so they ended up on the run... and the document is longer than a novel and written by lawyers! I couldn't get past the first page."

Cap would have it all handled though. She'd lived through all that and could give all the information anyone needed. Steph felt a lot better knowing that Bucky hadn't been abandoned, after all.

"Okay, so we'll do Coney Island, then we can shop for whatever you wanna bring back. Oh! Do you wanna watch a movie? There are cinemas with these giant screens now, it feels like you're part of the whole thing." It was basically going back to the places Bucky took her, but she couldn't help but want to share her fascination.

★☆✪☆★
Steph let out a dark chuckle at the conclusion Bucky came to. "I thought she'd be much better for you," she said sadly. "She's just sickly and insecure, but there's modern medicine to deal with the first one, and, well, if she knows you love her then she has nothing to feel insecure about." A lot of her own insecurities in the past had stemmed from him going on all those dates and seemingly failing to notice her. "She's been spared from the war, the serum, everything. She... she'll love you better than I can. Hell, an hour ago I was having a panic attack and ready to throw myself off a bridge or something."

Her voice was quiet by the end of all that, and she turned away, looking down at her hands as she fidgeted with her ring.

Bucky couldn't help chuckling at Steph's obvious relief. "Yeah, she should have it covered. They've got, what, eighty-something years of history we don't fully know?" Something like that. "I don't know about you, but I don't think I could pull off trying to be him." Really, neither of them could pass for their alternate versions. Steph was tiny, and Bucky had two natural arms.

"You can show me whatever you think it worth seeing," he said with a warm smile. "She's the one with things to do and people to see. She even wants to pass her shield to a friend of hers. I just came along to see you." And the future, but mostly to see his best friend.

★☆✪☆★
"I'm sure he's gonna be good for you, too," Bucky said with a sigh. "He- Did he even go through the war? He's got two arms, so at least he doesn't have that sort of reminder bolted onto his shoulder." Bucky really liked his new Wakandan arm, it didn't have the same sorts of memories attached that his HYDRA arm had, but just the fact that it was needed in the first place was a reminder of everything he'd been through and everything he lost.

"He probably doesn't always have the worry in the back of his mind that maybe the trigger words aren't gone, or that his memory's gonna slip and he'll forget everything again." Bucky knew that was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it.

Steph giggled. "Yeah, no, you can't. You're too skinny." She wasn't disparaging him though, just amused at herself for how much she ended up liking big, muscled Bucky. It was especially a turn on during sex. All he had to do was pick her up and cover her with his body, or grope her breasts or ass with his large hands, or show her his huge cock. He drove her mad in the best of ways, and she was glad he never minded how weird she got sometimes, like when she would leave scratches on his back or ask to be covered in his cum.

She blushed, realizing she got distracted while having a supposed serious talk with her best friend. She cleared her throat. "Thanks for dropping by, really. It's good to see you and know you're not, you know. A POW or something." Well, that brought her focus back quickly. "Will you be staying here, or are you booked somewhere?" She wasn't really sure what she preferred. On one hand, it might be nice to have them over for a few days, and it might also make it easier for them to prepare for the trial. On the other, well, if they were anything like her and her Bucky... which they were...

★☆✪☆★
"Oh, he did. I couldn't do anything about him being drafted." In hindsight Steph could've gone back further and infiltrated the Army, but she still couldn't see how she could've gotten to a position where she could influence that. Not in the 1940s. "The war was just over a bit faster." Between her tipping off Peggy and the SSR with HYDRA intel and activity, and her own solo missions on HYDRA bases while Cap and the Howlies were occupied, they were more efficient than she and her team had been in her first rodeo. "Couldn't really stop most things though, only influenced the outcome."

She explained that the 107th was still lost in Azzano, even though she'd tried to haul Bucky out of there before HYDRA could round up the prisoners. The events at the factory still happened, but the rescue took place sooner rather than later since she'd found a way to alert Peggy about it. And he still got blown out the side of the train car; thankfully Peggy had been there to pull him back in, while Steph bulldozed through the HYDRA goons to try to get to Zola first. There had been so many close calls, and only so much she could do while operating from a distance. She got really good with a sniper rifle, at least.

"Zola still got to him, but hopefully it was just the initial dose of his serum or something. He heals fast and his memory's a lot sharper, but so far that's about it." There was an undercurrent of worry in her voice, though. What if it hadn't been enough? What if HYDRA would still get him one day?

Bucky could see when Steph got distracted, and he was pretty sure he knew that look on her face now that he was married to the other Steph. But, he didn't say anything, just perked a brow and chuckled softly as he watched her thoughts wander, then snap back to reality.

"I think we're probably gonna stay somewhere else," Bucky answered, his own cheeks going just a touch pink as he grinned. "We haven't actually been married all that long yet." The trip was multipurpose. Part helping the older Bucky with his trial, part getting to see his best friend, part honeymoon. It was unconventional, but it suited them. "That dumbass in there actually thought I'd just move on after you disappeared."

★☆✪☆★
Bucky nodded along as he listened to how Steph changed things in the other Bucky's timeline. It all made sense, especially the part where more intel would have brought the war to a quicker end. But even though their conversation had been so serious, he could still take a small dig at her. It was like he had to. "So Peggy got the serum? Makes sense why it ended faster. She always had a more level head than you." He meant it in jest, but it was honestly also kinda true.

But then he thought back to his own months after his initial capture, the fear and confusion he felt about not knowing what, exactly, Zola had done to him, but knowing it was something. He couldn't get drunk any more, any injuries he got seemed to clear up in days when they should have taken weeks, how he could calculate his shots so much faster than before, it all scared the hell out of him, and he had his best friend beside him, even if he didn't tell her what was going on. Bucky couldn't help wondering how the other one felt going through all that without her there.

"I doubt they'd be able to get to him again," Bucky said, giving Steph a small smile. "Not with you guys knowing what to look out for."

Steph would've been surprised if she hadn't already had a similar conversation with her Bucky, who had made it very clear that he would rather go through all the shitty things he'd been dealt with in his life than lose her. But then she retorted, "Not our fault some dumbasses kept sending mixed signals," with a grin, just because she could, and, well, she was his best friend. She had to take even a small dig at him. "How would you have felt if we'd dated someone else, huh?"

Her smile softened as he confirmed that he was married to Cap. It was kind of cute, this little honeymoon of theirs through time. "Hope you're going somewhere nice. Maybe somewhere she can wear a bikini. Have you seen her old posters?" Okay, so maybe it had been fanart that she had seen, but it was on the Google so she believed their legitimacy.

★☆✪☆★
Oh, Steph knew Bucky was teasing, but for old times' sake she playfully punched his flesh arm with a soft laugh. It wasn't anywhere near her younger counterpart's bright laughter, but it was a start.

Then she settled more comfortably on the couch next to him. "Well, she did manage to put down a plane with bombs without going down herself." Howard had fished her out of the Atlantic just fine, and there had been a grand homecoming for Captain Carter and the Howling Commandos across the Allied countries. "And she didn't take shit from you." Him. Whatever. He knew what she meant.

She ran a hand through her hair, then started to pull it up to a ponytail out of habit only to realize she didn't have a hair tie and that she had it all pinned up in some post-WW2 hairstyle. "I don't know, Buck. My luck is shit. I think I got everyone, and I saw to Zola myself, but... what if there were others not even you knew or were in HYDRA's files?" She'd compiled and taken a whole list with her to the past — base locations, personnel, sleeper agents — but she couldn't help worrying she'd done a poor job at cleaning up. "And, honestly... there are still wars coming. I don't know what's gonna change. Him being part of SHIELD's top brass will keep me in the know, but..." She trailed off, biting her lower lip uncertainly.

Bucky laughed a little, finding it easy to joke about how stupid they'd both always been now that all those feelings had been sorted out. "Just like it's not my fault some idiots didn't listen when I said you'd always be my best girl, or that none of those dates mattered any." Bucky had told her things like that many times over the years, always hoping that if she felt the same she'd pick up on it. Apparently they were both morons though. "It woulda sucked watching you with someone else, but I woulda put up with it if it's what I thought you wanted."

He shrugged and took another sip of his hot (warm) chocolate before answering. "I don't know where we're going after this. Sky's kinda the limit since she's got that stone or whatever that can take us anywhere," he said, but his curiosity was piqued at the mention of posters. "There's posters of her? Nah, those didn't happen in my timeline. You got any here I can see?"

★☆✪☆★
Sighing, Bucky gave Steph a tired smile. "I don't know. You know what to watch out for, and you know what to warn him and Peggy about, and he can let you know what's going on in SHIELD. Sounds like you guys probably have that whole angle covered."

When he saw her moving to pull her hair up, Bucky took one of the ties off his metal wrist. He usually had a couple of them stashed there. "Here," he said, offering it to her. "If you want you can take all those pins out and use this."

Steph's eyes lit up at Bucky's (unsurprising) interest in the posters, and she couldn't resist giving him a teasing grin. "Oh, you're gonna love 'em. Gimme a minute."

She slipped off to get her phone, giving her Bucky a wave and a smile as she passed the doorway to the living room. They weren't fighting or arguing or anything, which was a relief. She grabbed the phone from the nightstand on her side of the bed, then on the way back she detoured through the guest room that was now her art room to grab the box where she'd kept Cap's sketchpads and stuff.

Once back in the kitchen — after another passing wave and smile for her boyfriend — she set the box down on the countertop, then fumbled with her phone. She only used few of the apps, as she was still learning. Mostly she just used the messaging app, and the camera, and the default Internet browser. "This is the Google," she said as she showed Bucky the screen. "You just ask a question or name a topic and it'll show you things."

She typed Lady Liberty posters and giggled as she results came up. She handed the phone to him and instructed, "Just tap on the one you want to enlarge— oh, this one's good!"

★☆✪☆★
Steph had to smile. Bucky had always carried spares for her, even before she got the serum, so it wasn't a surprise that he still did, for his Steph. "Thanks," she said, taking the tie and holding on to it with her lips while her hands removed the pins in her hair. Her Bucky liked her 40s hairstyles, but he'd understand if she wanted to let her hair down a little. (It wasn't like she was always dolled up in bed anyway.)

"That's sweet," she remarked suddenly as she noticed one of the new photos in the living room. She picked up the frame after tying her hair and gingerly ran her fingers over the glass. "You look happy. I'm glad."

A small part of her felt the bittersweet ache of not being the one who made him happy, after all the years of wishing to do just that. But that no longer mattered. He was happy, and healing from the looks of it. She couldn't ask for more.

Bucky sipped at his cooling chocolate as he waited for Steph to come back, then gave her his full attention once she did. Setting his mug aside, he leaned over. "Oh, she told me this is some kinda phone," he started, pointing at the little box in her hands. "She's played some music on it for us, and she showed me a bunch of pictures with her friends."

When his friend pulled up the Lady Liberty posters, his eyes went wide for a moment. "Holy cow," he said softly, leaning in to get a better look before selecting one to tap on. It had his wife, dressed in what was apparently her tiny little Lady Liberty costume, sitting on top of an airplane with a leg out for some reason. "So, uh, does the Google tell you where I might be able to go buy one of these?" Because he would absolutely get one and hang it up in their place.

★☆✪☆★
The first time his girlfriend scurried past the living room, Bucky gave her a little wave back. But the second time, his hands were full as he was pulling his own hair back, so he just gave her a grin.

Pulling his hair out of his face was a mistake, though, when the larger version of his girlfriend picked up the photo. Grinning softly, he couldn't help the way his cheeks turned just a touch red. "Yeah, she loves to use the camera app, and likes to take selfies of us," he started, laughing softly. "She made me figure out how to get that one printed out for her. Apparently, leaving it on the phone wasn't good enough."

Steph had been a lot less interested in the Stark Expo back in their day, but maybe it was actually living with such technological advances that made all the difference. She was certainly excited to share with Bucky the wonders of the smartphone, even as her own use was still pretty limited.

"Did she tell you she was friends with the Stark guy's kid?" she asked as they scrolled through all sorts of Lady Liberty images. Some were legitimate WW2 posters, but most were fan recreations that ranged from artful homages to, well, the kind Steph would sketch in her secret art book.

She wasn't surprised by his interest in purchasing some of the posters. "I think so... we can buy everything from the Google now and have them delivered here. I'm gonna have to ask him. Or we can print these out!" She didn't really know the details, but her Bucky managed to print the pictures of them on his phone at her insistence.

"There are also lots of Captain America stuff, if you wanna bring back some." She showed him a bunch of merch, from shirts and hoodies to mugs to little action figures. Cap was one of the most beloved people in the world.

★☆✪☆★
"Him, too, but with his camera." Steph shook her head a little, though she was smiling. "I guess it helps that they don't see strangers in their reflections."

Their situation was hardly comparable, but they were alike in not wanting to look at the mirror. For so long she couldn't recognize who was staring back at her, then her image became a dreadful reminder of her failures. Her husband, at least, was helping remedy that. It also was helpful, in a way, that because she lived in the 40s now, even with her new body she looked more like her old self, with the hairstyles and clothes and everything. Even her Brooklyn accent had started to crawl back into her voice.

"Sorry we interrupted your evening. I forgot I don't live here anymore." She glanced around wistfully, before her gaze settled on the suitcases. "We brought her stuff, in case she wanted them."

Edited 2026-02-18 09:52 (UTC)

Grinning, Bucky turned his head to look at Steph. "Yeah? You think you might be able to get me one of the one with the airplane so I can take it home with me?" It would drive his wife crazy, but he was her best friend. He was supposed to drive her crazy.

Bucky looked back at the phone to see the Captain America items, perking a brow at them. "Damn. She's really famous here, huh?" he asked, grinning just slightly. In his mind, Steph--both versions of her--deserved all the recognition in the world. "I might want something like that, but I know I need that poster. Maybe just a hat or something, mostly so people don't mix me up with your guy so often." Especially if the man had a trial coming up, last thing Bucky wanted was to be hauled off because of somewhat-mistaken identity.

Maybe he should just walk around in short sleeves while he was there.

★☆✪☆★
"I don't even remember what that feels like," Bucky said, his tone resigned. While his changes weren't the same as Steph's, he knew what it was like to have part of his body not be his. And for a long time there, nothing about him was his own. He still had moments where he saw the Winter Soldier in the mirror instead of the man he was now.

But those times were slowly becoming less frequent, thankfully.

"Don't be sorry, it's fine," Bucky said with a shake of his head. "We needed to hash things out anyway, didn't we? But I'm sure she'll like her things. You can take whatever back you want."

Sighing, he turned to look at her again. She looked about as tired as he felt. "You two wanna stay here or are you staying somewhere else?"

"Yeah, I'll help you get whatever you want. You said we have time." It would drive Cap crazy, yeah, but if her best friend wanted those stuff then Steph was going to get them for him, dammit.

Speaking of stuff, she grew a bit more serious as she turned her attention to the box she'd brought in. She slowly slid it toward Bucky. "These are her sketchbooks and journals, or at least the ones I found. She's very talented." They might be the same person, but Cap had had years to improve on her craft. Her recent pieces were particularly striking and evocative.

★☆✪☆★
"N-No, I don't wanna impose," Steph said, shaking her head. Aside from wanting to give them privacy to go about their intimate business, she also wanted to give Bucky room to talk about her with the other Steph. He might still have some misgivings or heartaches he'd rather discuss with his girlfriend than her. "We'll find a hotel. I'm sure there's room somewhere."

Then her expression turned hopeful. "But maybe we can hang out again sometime?" She sounded uncertain, like she was already bracing herself for rejection, which stemmed from the times in their past when he'd inadvertently made her feel spurned. "We also gotta talk about the trial, but outside of that, I mean. I can bring pizza and we can watch a movie?" Then, in her desperation for him to say yes, she added, "She can join us, it's no problem. It's not a date, just friends hanging out."

Bucky looked over at the box of notebooks and sketchbooks Steph had placed on the counter, a soft grin on his face. "Thanks for those," he said as he turned back to her. "I bet she'll appreciate them."

He gestured towards the entryway with one hand, where they left the suitcases. "A lotta what we brought you is your sketchbooks and journals, too, but there's some other stuff in there also." A little bit of clothes, some things they just thought Steph might want, that sort of thing.

★☆✪☆★
"I get it," Bucky said simply, nodding. "But the offer's there if you change your mind, alright?" He got it, though. Especially considering how busy Bucky had been with his girlfriend when the other two showed up.

"I do want to hang out some," he added, that tired grin coming back a little. "Both to talk about trial things and to just... hang out. And from what we've heard from the kitchen, I bet she'd like to spend some more time with him, too."

The mention of her sketchbooks made Steph blush. "Did you look through them?" Her tone wasn't accusatory. It was almost, well, embarrassed. There was at least one sketchpad she didn't want her best friend to see. (But, for the same reason, she wanted her boyfriend to.)

★☆✪☆★
"Thank you." Steph appeared visibly relieved by Bucky's acceptance of her offer. "I could use a drink. Living through all that shit again was... stupid." He said it at the same time as she did, and that drew a weak laugh out of her. "If you're out of the stuff, I'll ring up New Asgard and place an order."

She had a long list of things she had to do while she was back in her time, but certain stuff took precedence. Repairing her relationship with her best friend as much as she could was among her priorities, though she would probably spend her whole life doing that, in the same way she knew she would have to with her husband. She had so much to make up for, after how badly she'd fucked up.

"Let me know when you're free and I'll come by then." She didn't expect them to hang out the next day, as he surely already had plans with his girl. "We'll leave the suitcases too, so she has time to look through them."

"Most of them, yeah," Bucky told her with a grin. "There were a couple Becca held back and wouldn't give me for some reason, but she handed them over to the wife just fine once I started bringing her home with me on Sundays." As soon as Bucky found out there were things he hadn't been able to pore through, he became curious, but he didn't push it.

"You've always been talented as hell, Steph. Even when we were just kids, so you'd better keep at it."

★☆✪☆★
"I haven't really touched what you left," he answered, shrugging. "I didn't know how to get more, so I figured I'd save it for... I don't know. A special occasion or a particularly low night. Something like that." It could have gone either way, really. But, at least with his girlfriend there his nights hadn't been as low as they could be. Or as low as they had been in the past.

"But you could always get some delivered here to take back with you if you want. Or whatever else you need. I don't mind hanging onto it." He didn't think she would want to take much back with her, because too many things could make people ask questions, but if they wanted some things, he'd understand.

"I'm usually free. So just, I don't know. Call and make sure we're here or something?"

Steph looked relieved. "Oh, Becca," she said, utterly grateful, before her expression turned a bit sad. "I'll miss her. Please give her my thanks." Not just for her intervention at the sketchpad situation, or for securing her things, but for everything really. Becca had been the closest she had to a sister.

She then reached for the box, pulling out a large envelope, where she'd stashed the questionable sketchbooks separately. "I'm willing to bet these are the exact same ones Becca held back." At some point in time she and Cap had been the same person, after all. "But you'll probably be allowed to look." She left it at that and a small, teasing smile.

It wasn't the first time for Bucky to compliment her art, but she found herself ducking her head anyway. "I've been practicing with colors," she told him, unable to keep the excitement from her voice. "I could sketch you in color when we go to Coney Island, if you like?" It'll be her gift for him, a thank you and a goodbye, and she could finally draw his eyes in the right color.

★☆✪☆★
"You mind if I take a bottle tonight? You can have the rest, and I'll give you the Asgardians' contact details." It was an excuse to get Bucky acquainted with people who might be able to help him down the road; it had never been Steph's intention to leave him without allies. Hopefully some of them would become his friends, too.

Speaking of friends, she was also hoping to talk to him about her plans for the shield and Sam, but that was a conversation for another time. "I'll leave that here too, okay?" With a tilt of her head, she gestured toward the round bag that obviously held the shield. "I'd just rather not carry it around anymore." Something in her voice said she was done done.

"Yeah, she did us both a real favor when she snagged your stuff," Bucky said, his smile turning sad. "Then I went and repaid her by not talking to her for months after I got home. Her or my parents."

He had just been so angry that they hadn't mentioned Steph disappeared. Bucky had spent so long hanging onto that idea of getting home and finally telling Steph exactly how he felt and, if she'd have him, asking her to marry him. Instead he got home to discover his parents kept her disappearance a secret for years.

But at the mention of colors his smile became a bit more genuine again. "Yeah, we can do that if you want. I feel like we're gonna have plenty of time to fill while those two are getting ready for the trial."

★☆✪☆★
"Take as much as you want, it's literally yours," Bucky said with another shrug. "I wouldn't mind knowing how to get more, though, so you can definitely leave me that info." He hadn't had so much as a buzz since 1943, so that would be nice. Probably.

It was good he didn't have access to that stuff when he was at his worst, though. When he was struggling to get his mind back together. Might have been a problem back then.

"You can leave that, too, if you want. As long as you don't expect me to use it." After all, Bucky had zero interest in taking up Steph's shield. Did he know how to use it? Yes. Did he want to use it? Not even slightly. He wanted to retire. Maybe live quietly with his girl. Carrying the shield and living quietly did not go hand in hand.

Steph moved, wrapping her tiny arms around her best friend. "You were angry, and hurting." They all did stupid things when they were angry and hurting, didn't they? Heck they still did, even when they weren't. "But you can make it up to them now," she told Bucky, squeezing him a little tighter. He was alive, and free, and she knew Cap would fight the universe to keep it that way. "You can do everything you've always wanted."

It took her a moment to realize she was blinking back tears. Not of sadness though, but joy, and relief. He made home from the war, and while it hadn't been to her arms, per se, it was still to someone he loved and loved him just as much. She only ever wanted him to be happy. He would be now.

★☆✪☆★
"And yours," Steph reminded. It wasn't just her bank account she'd intended to leave him; everything she owned, in this timeline at least, Bucky now shared. It was the least she could do.

At his outright refusal of the shield, she laughed. "Only if you wanted to. I thought you liked the uniform," she teased, calling back to that time he teased her about hers. She had no idea if he remembered that exchange though, with how fragmented his memory had been.

She'd considered him, of course. Despite what he thought of himself and what HYDRA had made him do, she believed he best embodied what the shield stood for. And, well, if anything it would be good optics, especially with his trial coming up. But she was through making him unhappy and making decisions for him; what was really fucked up about what she did, she realized now, was once more putting him in a position where he had no choice, after all the decades under HYDRA's control. Never again.

She looked at the picture in the frame again, her expression turning wistful. "But I think it's time you came home, Sarge." Tears welled in her eyes and she swiped at them with the back of her free hand. She only ever wanted him to be happy. He would be now.

"Can you blame me?" Bucky asked with a sad laugh, hugging her back just as tightly. "They didn't tell me until after I got home that you were gone, Steph." Sure, he knew now that there was nothing he could have done to find her, but he still would have done anything he could have to get back to search for her. Steph--any and all versions of Steph--was more important to Bucky than any wars.

"But we're getting better now. Even before she showed up, I'd at least started going to Sunday dinners again." For a long time the dinners ranged between awkward and awful, more recently with his Ma encouraging him to get out there and meet someone, like he was just going to get over his loss. The only reason that stopped was literally because he showed up married to a taller version of his best friend.

★☆✪☆★
"Legally it is, sure," he said, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looked over at his best friend. "I don't need a lot, though." He'd lived off of nothing but what he found in HYDRA safe houses when he was on the run, then after his cryo in Wakanda he lived in a literal hut on a goat farm. The apartment was the nicest place he'd lived in eighty years.

"Honestly? I mostly spend it on her," Bucky added with a shrug. "Clothes and doctors and all that. Got her some inhalers, some glasses, even a thing for her glasses that lets her see blues." Looking towards the kitchen, his smile widened a bit at the memory of the first time she used the clip-on with her glasses, and how taken was with how much blue there was. "Next week we're supposed to get her fitted for a hearing aid."

He was well aware that wasn't the extent of Steph's medical issues, but they had other appointments set up for other things. Bucky was determined to take the best care of her possible.

Edited 2026-02-20 22:24 (UTC)

"You're the best friend one could ever have." Steph gave Bucky another hug, though this time there was no crying, just more of a goodbye for the night. They could talk some more another time, when he wasn't in the middle of something. But she was truly grateful for everything he'd done to take care of her, and now her counterpart.

Releasing him, she said, "We should probably go. Lemme just grab a bottle, and him on the way back." She felt like a guest in her former apartment now, and she didn't feel comfortable moving around without his permission. So when she did, it was simply to go to the guest room — now an art room, which she was glad to see — to pull out a bottle of Asgardian mead from a secret compartment in the dresser, then to the kitchen to collect her husband.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said as she peeked in, her eyes not yet quite back to normal after all that crying. She cradled the bottle in the crook of her arm. "We've finished our, um, business. But if you need more time..."

"Nah, it's alright," the younger Bucky said with a soft chuckle when his wife stuck her head in. He then pressed a friendly kiss to the top of his best friend's head before pulling away, then turned and picked up the box of sketchbooks and notebooks she had set on the counter. "You're still gonna see me plenty while we're here, don't you worry about that."

With that, he said his goodbyes and headed out the door with his wife, even giving the other Bucky a nod as the older one showed up to walk them to the door.

After telling them to be careful (a pointless thing to say, he knew), the older Bucky closed the door behind him and moved to his Steph. "You alright?"

Steph was already moving in to hug Bucky right after he shut the door. "Yeah. It was good to see him. He brought some of my stuff." A lot of her stuff, by the looks of those two suitcases. She might be offended if she hadn't actually wanted to stay, since it was almost like they were kicking her out. "And I showed him all the cool modern things." The same ones she'd been amazed with.

Her arms tightened around him as she squeezed, not that she could ever fully wrap them around his body. "You wanna talk about what happened, or should we just get back in bed?" She had never pried or pushed him to talk about things; she knew he would, if he felt he needed to. But the offer was there, for whatever he might need.

★☆✪☆★
"Well, I got us booze," Steph said once they were outside, holding up the bottle. It didn't look like anything special, but she'd had it before and knew what kind of punch it packed.

Her eyes were still red-rimmed, which she tried to hide from him by pulling out her phone and typing something on it. "Lemme just book us a hotel." By herself she'd have gone straight to a motel, she wasn't fussed — especially after all those years on the run and out the front lines of the war, again. But he deserved a little pampering after everything, and they hadn't exactly had a proper honeymoon yet. So she made some calls and booked a penthouse suite on the fanciest available hotel in Manhattan that weekend.

Not that it was clear until they got in a cab and she told the driver their destination. The cabbie had a strange look on his face, which eventually turned out to be barely held excitement, for as they started the ride he couldn't help but ask, "You're her, right? Captain America?"

Right. Steph forgot she was famous in this timeline.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject