Chapter 2
The next day Sam got out of his car and grabbed the two bags from the trunk. One big packed with clothes, toiletries and a few prepared meals, because he knew Bucky liked Sarah's recipes. The other was the round leather bag containing his shield. After all he wanted Bucky to feel save and if he was honest he did not want to let it out of his reach for too long after he finally accepted Steve's weapon of choice. He entered the House, took the stairs to the top floor and knocked on Bucky's door.
From inside Sam could hear a dull ‘thud' followed by a deep, low grumble and he had to smile. What was the other man doing in there? "Open up or I let myself in."
"Alright." Bucky exclaimed and the Door opened in front of Sam. "Hey Sam. Make yourself at home."
"Hey Bucky." Sam stepped inside and took a look around. It was a simple room with a small open kitchen. Everything in here seemed like it was the bare minimum – except the wide sofa bed. Everything neatly sat at it's designated place, except the ripped apart carton box peeking out from under the pulled out sofa. "You bought a convertible couch?"
The surprise in Sam's voice made Bucky growl, but before he could snap at his friend, Sam continued: "I would have though you were a futon kinda guy." He placed the shield beside the couch and the bag on top of it. "Sarah prepared a meal for us in case you haven't prepped something. Otherwise we can heat it up tomorrow."
"Give me that. Are you hungry? Want something to drink?" Back in the 40s he was a way better host, but today his thoughts were occupied with their 'experiment'. The last time he wasn‘t wearing an arm for more than a few minutes was back in Wakanda. After they broke through Hydras mind controlling words, he had started to relax and the moment they had showed him the new arm – the calm was gone. More fights, more violence, more lost.
"Yeah. Can I help?" Sam handed him the self packaged food.
Sam's voice brought Bucky's thoughts back from Wakanda to this moment and what Sam had said a few days ago. He needed to relax. "Some help would be great." He placed the bagged food on the kitchen counter and then surprised Sam in taking off the vibranium arm. Bucky noticed it. "What is it? - You offered to be here for me to take it off, so you have to be my left Hand." He threw the arm on the couch.
"Yeah, I am just impressed. That's all."
Together the prepped the food. Bucky bragged about his one handed knife skills. Sam laughed and laid his right hand on Buck's shoulder. And Bucky smiled big time.
They sat down on the couch to eat, backs against the wall, the vibranium arm laying between them. It was pretty hard for a mattress. If Sam had to guess this had been the hardest couch Bucky had found.
"The kids asked when you'll be coming by again." His nephews really adored Bucky.
Bucky smiled although he still had a full mouth. "Hrm. I will stop by at the weekend if nothing else comes up."
They finished their meals and had a small conversation about the boat and Buck's bike while Bucky cleaned their plates and put them back in the one cabin hanging above the Sink.
"How does it feel?", Sam asked, after noticing that Bucky didn't seem to need that second hand all that much.
"Not bad." A short pause. "I learned to handle most things with one arm during my time in Wakanda. But not great either." He didn't have to tell Sam, that he sometimes still felt that arm he lost all those decades ago.
"Do super soldiers ever get tense or stiff muscles?"
"Not like I did before. It can still hurt, but mostly it only lasts for a few hours instead of days."
"You know I always thought even super soldiers had to train to keep their strength, but I guess Steve just liked to run."
"He loved to be able to run. Before the serum he was two heads shorter than me, thin as a twig and his asthma prevented him from doing too much."
Of course Sam knew that. Not only because he read it in some museum, he talked about this with Steve.
"Did he ever tell you about the 40's?"
"A little. Mostly how popular you were with the women." Sam teased the old sounding man.
"I'm sure in his story the number was vastly exaggerated." Bucky laughed and shook his head. "I mostly did it for him, you know? I didn't want him to be alone when I got shipped out." Obviously he had failed in that department. Though, in the end, it all worked out for Steve.
Sam was happy whenever Bucky seemed that content with the situation. When he started to talk and laugh, not only stare. "No, that he did not share with me."
Bucky shifted his weight and sat down in a way so he could look at Sam. "Then I guess he also never told you, that I" He cleared his throat before blurting out the rest of the sentence "that I had a massive crush on him." The left side of his mouth twitched. He did not feel any shame in admitting that, but it was the first time he talked about this to someone he had a crush on since that awkward conversation with Steve when they where teens.
Sam just looked at Bucky the same way as before. "You're right, he didn't. I'm sorry that that didn't work out for you." Being into a man in the 40's must have been hard, but that little piece of information made Hydra using him as an assassin seem even worse.
Bucky shook his head. "I didn't say that so you'd feel sorry for me." His jaw clenched for a moment. This was something he had on his mind for a few weeks. Since the day Sam took on the mantle of Captain America and stood his ground in front of the cameras. "I said it because I now feel the same way about you and I don't want to have to hide anything. And I don't want you to argue that I should sleep on this couch with you later because there is enough space."
"Okay." That was unexpected for Sam and he had to think about how to further respond to this. Not the fact that Bucky fancied him, but that he opened up to him just like that. He slid closer to Bucky, showing him that this would not be an issue between them. "Are you asking me for a date old man?" He asked and could not keep a straight face during his last words.
Bucky rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am old-school like that." He had been back in the 40's. Even though he had had many dates back in the days, only a few of those had ever lead to more than kissing. After getting his freedom back, he had tried to date with the help of these new apps, but for him it felt too much like ordering food and not like creating a connection with a human being. And that was not was he was after. He wished for a big happy family. A lasting connection. "Will you go out with me?"
"I'd love to."
This answer elicited the most adorable smile Sam had ever seen on Bucky. Sam loved that look. "You wanna start holding hands?", he asked and offered his hand. He couldn't help himself in sounding like he'd made fun of this though it wasn't his intention. Unlike Bucky he never had to hide his attraction to men, he had chosen to. Like he had chosen to not see other things in the past and only changed his view because of his talks with Isaiah, which were only possible because Bucky had introduced them. Steve had given him the shield, but it was because of Bucky he was ready to wield it.
Bucky started to laugh. "Don't mind if I do." Gingerly his fingers reached for the warm hand, slowly turned it around and pulled it towards his lips to press a chaste kiss on the rough knuckles. "You never had to tell me to not flirt with your sister."
"Yeah, I did! You know how uncomfortable it is to get jealous of your sister?"
"Yes, actually I do. - And I may have done that on purpose, you look damn cute when you're slightly upset."
Sam felt the blood rush to his cheeks and bit his lip while shaking his head. Unable to come up with a witty response to that.
Their fingers started an elaborate dance, teasing one another with soft touches and gentle squeezes. They sat there in silence for quite some time, just relishing the company of each other. It was everything Bucky wanted right now and Sam was still a little stunned how fast the other man had wrapped him around his five fingers.