-•one•-
July 17th, 2024
“Can you get the door?” Bucky asked from behind the gardening tools stacked in his arms. They were getting ready to tackle the old overgrown garden out back, and Sam was making Bucky carry everything outside.
Sam nodded and picked his way over, opening and holding the back door open for Bucky. Bucky stepped through, looked back, maybe to thank Sam, but his eyes fell on someone else.
”Sam- Alpine-“ Bucky started, but he was too late.
Alpine zipped past Sam’s legs, darting out of the house.
“Shit- Alpine!” Sam yelled. He took off running, knowing it would be futile- Alpine is freakishly fast. “Get back here!”
Sam heard Bucky dump all of his supplies on the porch and run after Sam and his cat. Sam felt like hitting himself. He’d forgotten they have a kitten, a very neurotic, curious kitten, that would probably try to escape at any opportunity. One time, when they first moved in, Bucky had to hold Alpine down with his metal hand to stop her from trying to run out as Sam left for a meeting. She was biting and scratching, but once the door was closed Bucky sent Sam a picture of her fast asleep like nothing happened.
Alpine was a little white streak across their yard, headed straight for the tall grass at the edge of their property. If she got in there they’d never find her.
Then, another figure was sprinting full speed across their yard. Sam only caught a shout of “Alpine, no!” as Bucky sped past him, full speed. If he wasn’t so worried about Alpine getting eaten by an aligator, he would’ve laughed at how Bucky was using his super soldier speed to chase his little devil cat.
Alpine may have been fast, but at this point Sam was fully convinced that nothing was faster than Bucky. He caught up to her at the edge of the over growth and scooped her up. Sam slowed to a stop at about halfway across the yard. He couldn’t hear Bucky, but he was holding Alpine to his chest with his metal arm, getting scratched and talking to her. Probably telling her off in that cute way he does, like he’s talking to a child.
Sam is panting, trying to catch his breath. He waits for Bucky to walk up to him, before making his way back to the house.
”That was very bad Alpine.” Bucky chided. “You know you can’t go outside.”
Alpine yowled, digging her claws into Bucky’s chest.
”Don’t give me attitude, those are the rules, you’ll get eaten otherwise.” Bucky replied.
Alpine tried to bite his metal thumb.
”You know you can’t do that, you’ve tried before. Alpine. Alpine.” Bucky nudged Alpine’s head away from his hand. “You’re gonna break your teeth!”
Sam couldn’t help but laugh. He loved watching Bucky interact with Alpine. They talked like that a lot, like Bucky whole heartedly believed Alpine could understand every word he said and reply. The thing was though, Alpine did understand, and reply. She’d meow in such clear tones that they could always tell exactly what she wanted.
”Can’t eat your new mouth toys if you break your teeth, Alpine.” Sam said, grinning.
They got to the porch, and Bucky lightly tossed Alpine inside after getting her claws out of his shirt, and Sam quickly closed the door before she could run out again.
”We should get her a catio.” Sam said.
Bucky looked up from fussing with his shirt. “What?”
”A catio.” Sam said. He’s surprised Bucky hasn’t seen those yet. “Like a screened in porch, but for cats. She can technically be outside while still being confined to the house.”
Bucky paused, then nodded. “Yeah, she’d probably like that.” He surveyed his torn up shirt, a bit of blood on the dark fabric from scratches. He sighed and looked up. “That’s next, this garden is really bugging me.”
Sam chuckled. “Of course.” He kissed Bucky’s cheek. “Go clean those scratches, I’ll get started on it.”
-•two•-
July 23rd, 2024
Sam was trapped on the couch by Alpine, the cat lying on top of him, purring up a storm.
Usually she’d lay on Bucky, since he was her favorite, and Bucky would over indulge her in pets and ear scratches, but Bucky was out on a mission.
There’d been this new terrorist organization running rampant in New Orleans. It reminded Sam of the FlagSmashers, if the FlagSmashers had the opposite goal. They were called the Blipperz- with a z. Sam thought it sounded like a bad twitter name- and they hated people who hadn’t blipped. It was formed out of jealousy, basically. They thought anyone who hadn’t blipped should still be in those refugee camps, because ‘They got to live through the last 5 years and we didn’t!’.
Anyway, since Bucky and Sam were the closest, Fury and Torres had been giving them intel on the group.
This time, it was a stealth mission. Not big enough for both of them, but not small to be left alone. It was underground, too, not Sam’s specialty. Joaquin suggested Bucky go for it, which was fine with Sam. Yeah, he was a little worried about his boyfriend- Sam would be a bad partner if he didn’t care about Bucky’s wellbeing- but Bucky had taken on so much worse and walked away unscathed, so he’d be fine.
The door unlocked and opened, and Alpine left Sam’s chest immediately to go run over to Bucky.
”Traitor.” Sam muttered as he stood up, brushing the cat hair off of him.
Sam walked over to the door, past the stairs, and scanned Bucky. He looked a little pale, but otherwise fine.
”How’d it go?” Sam asked.
“Fine.” Bucky said shortly. He slipped his boots off without bending over.
Sam frowned as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Bucky’s waist, giving him a kiss on the cheek and squeezing his waist. Bucky drew in a sharp wince, and if Sam wasn’t so close, he probably wouldn’t have heard it.
Sam pulled back and examined Bucky’s torso, reaching out to feel around, but Bucky grabbed his hand quickly.
”Sam. I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Bucky said, but Sam noticed how his voice was thinner than normal. Alpine meowed almost disapprovingly at Bucky’s words.
“Buck.” Sam chided. “We live together, I can tell when something isn’t okay.”
”I’m fine, Sam. I told you. You really think I would lie about that?”
”Yes.” Sam said, without missing a beat.
Bucky gave him a little glare and tried to shuffle away, but Sam reached out and grabbed just above his left hip. Bucky visibly surprised a gasp. Sam quickly removed his hand.
”Mhm, how’d you get hurt this time?” Sam asked.
”It’s nothing. Just… a little wound. I can handle it.”
”I’ve seen you walk off a snapped collarbone.” Sam said. “What’s your definition of ‘just a little wound’?”
”You know…” Bucky said, clearly giving up all hope of lying about it to Sam. “Just a gunshot.”
Sam felt like Bucky just socked him with his metal arm. “Just a gunshot?! Jeez, Buck!”
”See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you, because I knew you’d overreact-“
”Overreact?!” Sam nearly took Bucky’s head off then and there. “You got shot, Buck! Get your ass to the bathroom, I’m patching you up.”
Bucky grumbled something under his breath about the bullet not hitting any organs, but he complied, stumbling his way up the stairs, Sam behind him, making sure he doesn’t tumble down backwards.
Sam made Bucky sit on the sink as Sam pulled their med-kit out from under the sink. Sam kneeled in front of him and pulled Bucky’s jacket and undershirt off.
Sam, for once, didn’t have a hard time looking away from Bucky’s abs, since his eyes were drawn to the hastily applied, blood soaked bandage covering the wound. Sam peered around Bucky’s waist, sighing gratefully when he saw the exit wound.
”Squeeze my shoulder if you need me to stop.” Sam instructed, knowing Mr. Tough-guy-Barnes probably wouldn’t end up squeezing Sam’s shoulder even if he was about to pass out.
Sam peeled the bandage away from Bucky’s wound and poured alcohol onto a cotton pad. It wasn’t a huge bullet hole, something small and fast got him, so Bucky would probably be completely healed in the next 3-4 days. God, that was the only appealing thing about being a super-soldier to Sam.
Bucky took a breath and held it, squeezing his eyes shut as Sam started dabbing the cotton pad around the wounds, cleaning off all the blood and disinfecting it. Sam watched Bucky’s shoulders tense.
Sam didn’t enjoy watching his boyfriend be in pain, so he tried to go as fast as he could, wiping the blood away. It didn’t take too long, and Bucky exhaled in relief when Sam pulled the pad away for a final time.
The rest was easy. The alcohol is always the worst part, Sam knew that. One time, our in the war, he’d gotten grazed by a bullet on his thigh. It wouldn’t have been too much to worry about, but he fell and lodged a shit ton of dirt into it. He can still feel Riley’s hand on his chest as he poured alcohol onto the grass and rubbed the shit out of it.
Sam brought himself back to the present. He can’t be distracted by thoughts of Riley right now. He stepped over the tub wall and crouched behind Bucky so he could stitch the exit wound.
It was over quickly. Sam didn’t bother bandaging the wounds yet, since Bucky still needed to shower the sweat off of him.
”How’d you even get shot?” Sam asked as he threw the bloody cotton pad away. “I’ve seen you block bullets with your hand like it was nothing.”
“Lucky shot.” Bucky said, but the words were cut short and his face got a little paler. Sam frowned.
”Buck.” He said sternly.
Bucky refused to meet his eyes, his mouth moving into an almost pout that was so adorable it was hard for Sam to get angry with Bucky for trying to lie to him.
Bucky sighed. “I didn’t know until I was in there, but that was an old Hydra base, Sam. I.. forgot it was there. I got a little distracted when I recognized that stupid metal table.”
Sam blinked, shocked. “Shit, Buck. I didn’t know.”
Bucky looked up. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine, really. Not your fault I couldn’t remember a base.”
”Did you tell Joaquin?”
Bucky nodded. “He told Fury. They’re sending a team in to file through the place tomorrow.”
Sam felt his stomach twist, though. Sam had agreed to send Bucky into an old Hydra base, chock full of bad memories, and it ended with Bucky getting shot.
Sam was pretty sure his thoughts were written all across his face, because Bucky scowled.
“Stop thinking that.”
”Thinking what?”
“Thinking it was your fault.” Bucky said.
“How’d you know?”
Bucky smirked weakly. “Because we live together, I can tell when something isn’t okay.”
If Bucky hadn’t hurt himself, Sam would’ve punched him for using his words against him. Instead, he grinned and kissed Bucky on the lips. Bucky leaned into it, eagerly. Sam felt his smile widen.
”Take a shower, you asshole.”
-•three•-
August 2nd
Sam could barely keep his eyes on the road.
Him and Bucky were headed to one of AJ’s baseball games, which they were running a little late for- the game started at 11:00 am, and it was 10:47, and 20 minutes away.
Sarah had gotten on his ass about that a few minutes ago, and of course Bucky had taken Sarah’s side, insisting that ‘I tried to tell him that we were going to be late!’, when he didn’t say shit.
But Sam could barely listen to them telling him off, because Bucky was smiling. He was wearing a shit eating grin as Sarah yelled at Sam, while his hair was whipping around in the wind, because Sam insisted on having the windows down unless it was raining. It fell perfectly in a way Sam had never seen grown out hair fall, and Sam always got excited every time he saw Bucky smile. He’d spent an entire life time without even the very concept of joy, so now Sam devoted his life to over indulging him in softness and comfort.
Bucky noticed Sam staring. “Eyes on the road.”
Sam snapped his head back to the road. No one else was on it, thank god, because he’s sure he was going fast enough to ram his truck into the back of someone’s car.
Then, Sam’s ears picked up on a low sound underneath all the wind and music. he glanced over, and realized Bucky was humming to the song that was playing. Sam couldn’t take it anymore, he was dying of love. Bury him right here, on this very spot on the road, call the time of death, right now. 10:50 am.
Sam smiled despite himself as Bucky continued to hum quietly. Sam forced himself to look back at the road, when something in the mirror catches his eyes.
There was another car behind them, a few guys in all black. Was that a dog hanging out of the car?
A sharp BANG! went off just as Bucky shouted “Sam!”
Not a dog. No, that was very clearly a man shooting at Sam’s truck. Sam glanced back and recognized the clothing now. The all black jackets and jeans with the green stripe of the left shoulder. The fucking Blipperz were chasing them through southern Louisiana.
Sam swerved into the other lane as more shot rang out. He and Bucky ducked in their seats.
”Drive faster!” Bucky shouted.
”Have you seen how wet the roads are?!” Sam asked. “If I go any faster we’ll die!”
The car was gaining on them, coming up behind them. He vaguely saw one of the men climb on top of the car.
”Shit- Move over!” Bucky shouted, unbuckling.
”What the fuck are you doing- Bucky!” Sam was squashed against his door as Bucky, in a feat of insane flexibly, grabbed the wheel with his left hand and squashed his left foot on the pedal, practically in a full split on top of Sam.
Bucky got the truck a little ways in front of the car, which had sidled up next to them, and yanked the wheel to the right, pushing the Blipperz little car off the road and into the swampy land that bordered the highway.
”Did you just drown them?!” Sam yelled.
”They’re trying to kill us!” Bucky yelled back as he yanked the wheel to the left again, narrowly missing a dunk in the swamp of their own.
Sam glanced in the mirror again, trying to see the car, but instead, he turned and saw that the man who had previously jumped on the hood of the car was now in the bed of their truck, and aiming a gun right at Sam and Bucky.
”Get down!” Sam yelled as he shoved Bucky back to his seat and grabbed the wheel back, swinging the wheel back and forth, making the truck shake in violent zig zag patterns. Bucky’s foot came up off of the petal and almost kicked Sam in the face. Bucky pulled his foot back, and reached under his seat, where he pulled out a whole ass pistol.
”How long has that been there?!” Sam asked.
”Since I moved in!” Bucky yelled. “Stop swerving!”
Sam did, and slowed down while he was at it. He was just wondering what the hell Bucky was about to do, when Bucky swung himself out of the truck window and jumped up on top of the truck roof. His feet thudded on impact, knocking the roof in and leaving dents. Sam had a flashback to the first time he met Bucky, when he punched a hole through his windshield and ripped the steering wheel out of his hands.
Sam heard gunshots, then a few more thuds and grunts. The scuffle ended with a very high pitched scream of a guy getting thrown off the truck. Sam was breathless.
All he could think was, what the fuck just happened, when Bucky nudged the back window open and climbed back inside.
“You’re gonna need a new truck.” Bucky said as he got back into his seat, not even sweating.
”Yeah, no shit.” Sam said as he turned off the highway to the road the baseball field was on. “You’re paying for it.”
”What?!”
”Consider it your debt for wrecking my just paid off car the first time.”
”That was 10 years ago, Sam!” Bucky protested.
Sam grinned. “5 years, if you don’t count the Blip.”
Bucky grumbled a few curses under his breath and glared at Sam, and Sam only grinned wider.
They got to the field at 11:15, later than they were supposed to be, and Sarah and Cass marched up to them immediately. Sarah took one look at Sam’s truck and understood.
”What happened?” She demanded.
Sam and Bucky shared a glance. “We got chased by a few guys with guns in a car.” Sam explained. “Got my truck wrecked in the process.”
”Why’s your roof bent like that?” Cass asked.
”Cause Uncle Bucky jumped on it.” Sam explained bitterly. Bucky shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face as Cass marveled at him. Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Well, you two better get your butts to the bleachers, because AJ is batting soon and he’s already told his whole team that you’re coming.” Sarah said.
-•four•-
August 13th
Sam felt like the biggest idiot of the century as he stared out at the storm clouds moving across the sky rapidly.
Sam decided to repaint the house in hurricaneseason. Every body and their mother told him that was a stupid idea right now because of the time of the year. Even Bucky, who’s lived in new york city his whole life when he could live, told him it was a really stupid idea. Now, Sam was never gonna hear the end of it.
”Told you.” Bucky said from behind Sam, making him jump.
”Haven’t I told you to at least cast a shadow when you walk? Jesus.” Sam said, turning around. “The weather people said it was supposed to travel up the coast, not swing back around this way!”
”Look, I’m not an expert in modern technology, but isn’t the weather man always wrong?”
”Well- yeah. But that doesn’t matter.” Sam scowled.
“It kinda does.”
”Shut up.”
Bucky huffed a fond breath, which was about as close as Sam usually got to a laugh. “Just hope it isn’t too bad.”
”Yeah. And we were supposed to take AJ and Cass to the park later. Y’know how devastated they’ll be?” Sam said.
Bucky shrugged, speaking as he walked into the kitchen. “They’ll live.” He paused at the stove, turning around again. “You told Sarah to start preparing for the storm, right?”
”Of course I told Sarah. Do you think I’m stupid?” Sam said, mildly offended.
”Sometimes.” Bucky said, filling a pot with water and setting it on a burner. Sam picked Alpine up, and walked over to stand near Bucky. He took one of Alpine’s paws in his fingers and fake swatted Bucky’s shoulder.
”Tell him that was really mean, Alpine.” Sam said.
Bucky leaned down and kissed Alpine’s head. Alpine meowed, making Bucky frown.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to agree with him.” He chided. Sam scoffed.
They stood in silence, waiting for Bucky’s water to boil, the only sounds the electricity from the stove, the steadily picking up wind, and Alpine’s little motor purrs when Sam and Bucky were petting her at the same time.
Sam scrunched his eyebrows together. “Why are you even heating this up? The powers probably gonna go out soon.”
Bucky frowned, like he didn’t really think about why he was doing what he was doing until now. “Just felt right. I guess…” He got that soft look on his face, like he always did when he was remembering his old life in the 20’s and 30’s. “My Ma used to always make tea before bad weather. She always liked to have it while she was knitting, when she couldn’t do anything else. Guess I just thought I should do it, too.”
Sam smiled. Ever since Bucky first told Sam about his Mother, Sam had always wished he could meet her. He sees a lot of her in her son. Maybe in another universe, Sam got to meet Mrs. Barnes.
”That’s sweet, Buck. We still have some of that extra nice stuff Bruce got us a while back. Wanna use that?” Sam asked. “It’ll probably be nothing like your Ma’s, but..”
”Nothing could ever be like Ma’s.” Bucky said. He flashed Sam a quick smile. “Yeah, that would be great.”
Sam kissed his cheek and handed Alpine over, going to dig around in the pantry. There was one big gust of wind, and Sam was reminded of the oncoming storm. He’d almost forgotten.
”Did you pile some sandbags around the basement doors?” Sam asked. If Bucky didn’t, their unfinished basement would flood, and Sam did not wanna deal with that.
”Yeah.” Bucky said, glancing between the window and his pot of just starting to boil water. He could probably hear the rain already, because of his enhanced senses. Sam swears his boyfriend is like a horse in that sense.
Sam grabs two of the tea bags and makes his way back over to Bucky. He peers out the window, and sees the cloud of thick rain approaching the lake behind their house. They’d only have a few minutes until they lost power.
Alpine climbed up to wrap herself around Bucky’s shoulders as he grabbed two mugs and poured the water into each of them, and Sam put the tea bags in. Their fingers brushed against each others as they picked up their respective mugs, and the flash of electricity that jolted through Sam left him feeling the same way he did before they got together, like a teenage boy with a crush.
Just as they were getting settled on the couch, the lights flickered and the AC shut off. Alpine meowed at the sudden darkness, jumping in the middle of Sam and Bucky’s laps, effectively burying herself in between them. She was never big on storms.
Sam pulled a blanket around the 3 of them, since Bucky usually ran cold, and would probably start shivering soon. When it came to body heat, Sam was no Steve, but he was usually able to warm Bucky up.
”Y’know, I’ve always thought that it’s weird you run colder since you got your serum, but Steve was a human furnace.” Sam said, taking a sip of his tea. It was good.
”Guess they really cared about me being the Winter Soldier, huh?” Bucky said. There was a note of bitterness in his voice.
Sam knew Bucky’s coping mechanism with dealing with his past was usually joking about it, so most of the time, Sam let him, even encouraging it sometimes. Of course, he still makes Bucky talk about it seriously, since he has a bad habit of bottling it up, but just prodding him with jokes helps sometimes.
”Maybe if I got the serum I’d grow wings, if it likes going with themes.” Sam said. Not that he ever wanted the serum- he’d so much rather be without it.
”Stick to the mechanical ones.” Bucky said, which was kinda unfair, coming from the man with an entire mechanical arm.
Sam leaned his shoulder into Bucky’s, skin meeting cold metal, and rested his head on his shoulder. Bucky leaned down and kissed his forehead.
“We should do this more often.” Bucky said quietly.
A loud thud sounded as part of a branch was thrown into their newly painted house.
”Maybe without the hurricane part.” Sam said grimly.
-•five•-
August 18th
The last room they had to finish in their new house was Sam’s office.
He had a nice vision for it, pale blue walls, a place where they can both properly store their combat uniforms, a nice hook for the shield, many, many shelves for the piles of paperwork they both need to fill out, and a nice desk near the window. Maybe even a bed for Alpine.
He was really proud of his paint job, but maybe he could’ve been smarter about where he put the cans of the stuff, because when Alpine ran full speed into the room with Bucky following, Bucky tripped over the one closest to the door.
”Shit!” Bucky yelped as his arms flew out to grab onto something, at the same time Sam also yelled “Shit!”, because Bucky’s metal arm went straight through the wall.
Bucky caught the rest of his body before he face planted into the floor, and there was a moment where nothing moved, not even Alpine, because Sam just finished painting that, and now they have another hole in their house.
They just blinked at each other, until Alpine meowed and walked up to Bucky, because he had just fallen.
Was the reason the paint can was there Sam’s fault? Yes. Should Bucky, former worlds most deadly assassin, literal ghost story this guy was so good, have been able to avoid the paint can if he just goddamn looked? Yes.
”I know what you’re gonna say-“ Bucky started.
Sam interrupted him. “That I just finished painting that? And that dry wall isn’t cheap? And that I had ideas for my office that didn’t include a fist size hole in the wall?”
”Yeah.”
They lapsed into silence again, in which Alpine meowed and left the room, Sam crossed his arms, and Bucky looked more and more sheepish by the minute.
”Are you going to take your arm out of the wall?” Sam asked.
Sam felt amused as Bucky’s cheeks flushed and he removed his arm from the wall, dusting the dry wall off of the sleek black and gold with his shirt sleeve.
”Do you want me to run out and get some wall repair?” Bucky asked.
”That would be appreciated.” Sam said, nodding. He couldn’t help his smirk at the way Bucky looked like a chastised child right now.
”You’re an asshole, man.” Bucky said, scowling at Sam.
Sam laughed, finally crossing the room and kissing Buck. “You love me, I love you. Now go to the store.”
Bucky kissed him back, but then swatted him and walked away. A few minutes later, Sam heard the truck start and pull out of the driveway.
-•+one•-
August 26th
Sam expected a lot things when he came home. Normal things, like finding Bucky on the living room floor, playing with alpine, or finding him cooking dinner in the kitchen.
Instead, today, Buck was nowhere to be seen.
Sam checked all his usual spots, and was just about to give up when Bucky’s voice called out to him.
”I’m outside, Sammy!”
”Don’t call me that.” Sam grumbled under his breath, knowing Bucky could most definitely hear him. Sam rushed outside to find Bucky sitting on one of Sarah’s very kindly of donated picnic blankets, two plates set up on it, one in front of him, and another across from him, for Sam.
Bucky looked up at him with his shaggy hair and blue eyes, hints of nerves and anticipation dancing around in that gorgeous icy blue. Sam just about dropped dead on the porch.
Bucky had taken time out of his day to set up a picnic for Sam. For them. To spend time together, on a picnic date.
”Buck..” Sam just about squeaked.
Bucky flushed and glanced away all cute. “Just sit your ass down before aliens invade or something. I don’t wanna ruin this.”
How could Bucky possibly ruin anything? How could anything ruin this, as long as he was with Buck.
Sam sat down in front of his own plate. He felt kind of too dressed up in his formal press conference clothes, which was just a dress shirt, dress pants, and a tie, but Bucky didn’t seem to care.
Bucky took one of the tuba-ware containers from next to him and deposited a hardy club sandwich, cut up strawberries, and some chips for each of them.
”I know it’s not really dinner food, but it’s a picnic.” Bucky said. “So you’re gonna haf’ta deal with it.”
Sam laughed. “This is more than perfect. Thanks, Buck.”
Bucky gave him a small smile. “Yeah.”
The sandwich was perfect, like how Bucky’s cooking usually is. As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with seasoning, Bucky’s a king in the culinary field. An argument can be made that seasoning wasn’t as big of a thing when Buck was growing up, but he should know better by now, especially living with Sam and Sarah. Especially Sarah.
They ate in relative silence, besides a brief conversation about Sam’s press conference, which wasn’t too exciting. Just the usual stuff Sam could really care less about. His job is to save the world and stop crime and stuff, not talk to interviewers.
When they were done, they put the used plates to the side and scooted closer to each other on the picnic blanket. Sam looped his arm around Bucky’s waist, and Bucky did the same for Sam.
“I love you.” Bucky muttered as he burrowed his nose into Sam’s neck.
”Love you too, Buck.” Sam smiled, kissing Bucky on the head.
They stayed like that until the sun went down, just sitting in silence. For once in their lives, nothing interrupted them.