The clouds are dark over the water, but rain doesn’t seem to be anywhere near falling. Bucky frowns up at the sky, pulling at the sleeves of his grey henley. No amount of serum can completely quell the shivering in his bones.
He rubs his arms, vainly attempting to chase the goosebumps away, even as they double up.
The boat should’ve been here by now. Should’ve been here days ago, even with the weather delays.
Bucky flips the keychain around his middle finger, the scrape of the star-charm soothing against his palm, even with its sharpness.
“Bucky,” Steve’s voice crackles over the comms. “Bucky, you gotta come in.”
Bucky presses his finger to his ear, muting the intrusive voice. Bucky kicks absently at the sand, the remnants of a sandcastle from earlier slowly eroding with each pass of the waves.
Thunder cracks above him, and bucky glances. up, reevaluating his opinions on the rain. He doesn’t care. He shivers, but he doesn’t move.
Ten days, Jason had said. Ten days, and then it’s vacation!
Bucky had known better, had told Jason to temper his excitement. Nothing ever goes the way they want it too. Thunder cracks again, the sky darkening. Bucky flips the charm again, in time for lightning to flash. Bucky presses his finger to the comm again, flicking it back on.
“What’s the weather forecast, Steve?” Bucky eyes the clouds.
There’s a scoff in his ear, “Tried to tell you earlier. Storms imminent.”
Bucky frowns, “Any update from the team?”
Steve is quiet for a moment. “Last ping is still from a few days ago, Buck.”
Bucky nods to himself. “I’ll give it a little longer.”
He stomps past more sandcastles, pausing at one that’s actually quite an impressive take on the Tower of London. Thunder rumbles again, and then the sky opens. Rain pours down, in thick sheets, decimating sandcastles and blowing leftover umbrellas into the seas.
Bucky shivers, squeezes his fist around the charm until he feels the sting of a cut. He’s about to turn away, about to finally head to the safe house when lightning flashes brightly. Bucky squints through the rain, sure he’d seen a flash of something else.
“Steve,” He yells into the comm. “Anything on the radars?”
There’s a silence that Bucky knows means Steve is looking. “Nada, but the storm is making it hard to get accurate readings. Why? See something?”
“I,” Bucky hesitates. He’s freezing, shivering so hard the metal plates of his arm keep clacking together awkwardly. “Yes!”
It’s faint, nearly lost in the downpour, but there’s definitely the glint of a silver ship on the water. Bucky eyes the coastlines and the slant of the ship. He’s worried, until a brilliant yellow light flickers across the sea.
Bucky nearly collapses to his knees, but he doesn’t. He stays upright watching the ship as it fights the sea and the sky.
When the ship is close, when he can see the figure on the bow, Bucky runs. He takes off, and he doesn’t care about the remnants of the castles he’s destroying or the sand coating his jeans and his arms. He doesn’t stop until the water is too violent for him to keep battling.
But it doesn’t matter because Jason is launching himself from the boat, a calculated launch that sends him right into Bucky’s chest. Bucky only knows to plant his feet firmly because of repeated experiences. Even then, the waves nearly take them both under.
Bucky doesn’t want to let Jason down, but he can’t carry him through the waves and the rain, so he puts Jason on his feet. When Jason sways, Bucky throws Jason’s arm around his neck and helps him back to the shore.
Steve is waiting, with Tony and Rhodes and thermos of coffee and umbrellas. They hand one thermos off to Bucky, and then turn to help guide the ship the rest of the way in.
By the time Jason and Bucky are inside, stripped down and wrapped in thick, fluffy towels, they’re both shivering so hard their teeth are rattling. Bucky keeps tracking all of the cuts and bruises on Jason’s face and torso.
Jason is too tired to really do more than sneer. “I’m fine, Bucky.”
”You’re late,” Bucky snaps right back. But then he drops his towel and steps into Jason’s space, sharing with him. “You’re late.”
Jason nuzzles into Bucky’s neck, and Bucky can’t tell if the scrape of his teeth is on purpose or a result of the shivering. He runs his hands up and down Jason’s back, trying to chase away the goosebumps.
Jason grabs his hand and for a second Bucky thinks he’s gonna be disgustingly cute and like, kiss it or something, but Jason is frowning down at it.
Bucky follows his gaze, and sees the red line from the star-charm. “It’s fine.”
”I told you not to worry. I told you to spend your time building castles in the sand.” Jason grouses. He pokes the line, frowning when Bucky winces.
”No blood, see? It’s fine.”
Jason shakes his head with a sigh. He’s tired and cold and sore and he doesn’t have the energy for this fight.
“C’mon,” Bucky says. “Let’s find warm clothes and go get food.”
—
Later, after debriefs and med bay visits, after Jason and his team have been poked and prodded and questioned, after Bucky had finally put his foot down and dragged him off to bed, Jason cradles Bucky’s hand again.
The line from earlier has nearly gone white. Jason presses the thumb of his nail to it gently, frowning. “Thought you had super-regeneration, or something,” he grumbles.
Bucky shrugs. “Repeat trauma or some shit.”
Jason flicks his eyes at Bucky and he’s angry. Bucky flinches away from it. “It’s nothing, Jason. A nervous tick.”
Jason snaps his teeth, literally opens and closes his jaws so Bucky can hear the way the bones clack against each other. “Don’t be so casual about it, Bucky. You’ve literally scarred yourself.”
Bucky hears what he doesn’t say. He pushes until Jason is on his back and Bucky can pin his hands above his head and stare down into his eyes. “It’s fine Jason. I worry about you, all of you. It grounds me to have something to fidget with. But you were late. You were so late, and we’d heard nothing. I couldn’t go after you- you’d have killed me and then we’d both be miserable.”
Jason struggles beneath his hold. “I don’t,” he bites his lip. “Not over me, Buck, you shouldn’t feel that much over me.”
Bucky snorts, rolls his eyes and rolls off Jason. He stalks beside the bed until he can find the wet pants from earlier. He fishes in the pocket and throws the bright, glittery pink charm at Jason’s head. ”I fucking love you too, asshole. Find me something with softer edges if you’re going to keep stressing me out.”
Jason leans up on his elbow and nearly misses catching it, but he does, looping it around his ring finger. “How about instead, you just fucking come withme on missions and we don’t have to worry each other.”
Bucky considers it. No one is going to like the idea of sending them out together.
“We’re not fun split up, either,” Jason points out.
Bucky lifts a shoulder. “We can figure it out later. After a month spent in Paris.”
Jason frowns, “What happened to Rio?”
”I am so sick of sand,” Bucky says heavily.