First flight
The sun was high, the sky clear of clouds and even clear of planes and despite the hotness of the air, there was a nice wind blowing on top of Bucky's building. Bucky himself was analyzing his surroundings; the sea of concrete and roads and windows and antennae.
“Don't worry,” he told the young man next to him, “I'll always catch you.”
Torres smiled.
“Oh, I didn't intend to doubt it.”
He was sitting cross-legged on the surface of the building, next to a bulky sport bag almost his size. When Bucky was done looking for foes or simply inconveniences, he joined him and unzipped the bag. They cautiously got the machinery out and let it rest on the concrete. For some minutes, Bucky played with the different mechanisms, appreciating Joaquin's work.
“Really not bad, Junior. You either really obsessed over Sam or you've got a gift for that.”
Joaquin winced to hide his uneasiness. Bucky had obviously intended that as a full on compliment but the truth was, Joaquin did obsess over Sam and did make sure he was always near whenever Sam was fixing his suit. Just to (respectfully) learn.
He still couldn't believe he was going to do that.
“Thanks but can you not call me Junior? You sound like my father and I'm really not into DILF. No offense,” he said jokingly, as a way to distract his thoughts.
Bucky's smile dropped immediately.
“So what are you into?”
His face had closed up and his eyes were cold. They were inches apart and Joaquin could feel the tension in his body, could feel his metal arm almost shifiting like a cat, ready to attack. He gulped.
That, he was into.
Also, on second thought, he wanted to go back to thinking about the flight.
“You. I guess.”
Bucky looked away and stared off in the distance for a few seconds (it was hard to tell when he had gotten offended) but then he slipped a grin to Joaquin and stood up.
“Okay. I won't be able to tell you much, apart from what I observed with Sam. That should be enough, though.”
“You never tried it yourself?” exclaimed Joaquin.
He hadn't thought about asking earlier because he hadn't thought it could be the case. Bucky and Sam were so close, it only seemed natural he would have tried, if only to know what it felt like –after all, they kept passing the shield between the two of them in combat.
“No. I, er, am afraid of heights since… Since way before your birth.”
Joaquin raised an eyebrow.
“But you let Sam carry you all the time!”
Bucky huffed loudly.
“Not all the time, only when we need to hurry and there's no other way.” (Joaquin would beg to differ about that last argument because it sure seemed like it happened every time.) “But we're not here to talk about me! On your feet, soldier!”
Joaquin gladly jumped on his feet. Adrenaline started flowing in his blood.
“Time to put it on. You ready?”
The young man nodded. He felt Bucky pass in his back as he looked down. They were on the fifteen story. Should he fall, he was dead. He gulped. Bucky had his back, he repeated to himself and he was not going to fall. He was going to fly.
Suddenly, a very heavy weight got put on his shoulders and he let out of cry of surprise.
“Fuck, that's heavy.”
“Language, Junior.”
Joaquin shifted his shoulder to redistribute the weight equally and to feel it fully. He stretched his neck, too. There was one last thing: Bucky attached a very thick leather bracelet around his wrist, connected to a titanium thread.
“That's heavy, too,” he noted.
“I know,” Bucky replied, “but I needed something that would withstand my strength if I ever need to pull you in.”
Joaquin watched him put the other leather bracelet around his metal hand.
“There's something romantic about getting handcuffed to each other,” he said teasingly.
Bucky shot him a glare so he shut up.
“Are you ready?” asked the former Winter Soldier.
Again, he nodded. His heart was beating so hard it could jump out of his chest.
Bucky came close to him and cupped his chin in his hand. The metal was cold on his burning skin and Bucky's lips were far too close. Correction: now his heart could burst out.
“Don't overdo yourself,” Bucky told him, locking his eyes into his. “You'll do great, okay? I know you will so don't push it, that's how you'll get hurt. There is a lot to learn and you will learn it all but in due time. One step at a time. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah, I do,” he whispered.
He had almost stopped breathing by now.
Bucky's lips got even closer until he kissed him on the cheek before retreating. (And that's how you frustrate a man, thought Joaquin, though it had helped him regain his focus.)
Bucky stepped away and he stepped on the roof's edge.
He pulled and the wings deployed.
They were bigger, heavier than h'd thought and their deployment almost made him trip. He bent his knees. Briefly closed his eyes. He had seen Sam do it, he could do it. (Bucky had made him practice the jump a hundred times too.)
He jumped.
For one split of a second he thought nothing would happen. Then the wings caught the movement and flapped in the air and Joaquin felt his whole body being pulled up to the sky by his back and shoulders. One more time and he got pulled faster. One more time and he climbed faster. Before he realized it, Bucky was no taller than a kid, then an apple. And if he lifted his eyes…
He caught his breath. He could see the entire city laying out its roofs for him alone, the sky brimming at the edge of it and the sky itself, above him, so full of emptiness and blueness, only for him, only for him.
“You're doing it Torres, you're doing it!” Bucky shouted.
He came back to his senses. His heart was still beating fast and adrenaline pumped in all his body, especially inside his brain –he felt light-headed, like he was a bit drunk.
“Now, try to stay at the same height!”
He felt a light tug at his wrist and used that as a reference mark. Sam's old suit was not made to stand still in the air but they were meant to glide. He inclined his body, allowing his head to be at the same level than his feet –he stretched his arms, as if he was doing the plank in a swimming pool and, almost naturally, started making circles around Bucky's building. He heard his own laugh.
“That. Is. AWESOME!”
*
Bucky was smiling wildly at the little figure high above his head, holding on to the thread with his left hand. Though his heart was full of joy from being able to share such a precious moment with a man he loved, his enhanced senses were not loosing a second of what was happening, ready to step in. But Joaquin didn't look like he needed help. So, after a few seconds, Bucky allowed himself to grab his phone with his free hand, unlock it and start a video. He turned the camera to the sky.
“Hi Sam! Guess who's up there? He is doing so great. Wish you were here to see that, man, we-”
A scream. Joaquin had tilted his wings too much and was now swirling and diving in the direction of the ground, his speed only increasing as he went down. Bucky swore and throw his phone away –he did not make a better purchase since the day he bought one of those indestructible phone case. Then he grabbed the titanium wire with his two hands and pulled.
The thread straightened then gave up under the Winter Soldier's strength and soon enough Joaquin found himself flying horizontally until he slammed into Bucky's chest and Bucky's arm wrapped around him and Bucky breathed out in his hair.
“Dear God... Joaquin, you're alright?”
Bucky's eyes were full of concern but Joaquin could only feel his heart, beating faster that his own, the heart of a supersoldier who wouldn't break a sweat trying to hold on a helicopter from leaving the ground.
Wow. He was. So in love.
“Yeah. Obviously. Thanks to you, Bucky.”
“Don't mention it.”
Instead of letting him go, Bucky strengthened his embrace and pulled Joaquin even closer to his chest so he could rest his head on his shoulder. Joaquin wrapped (more like tried to wrap) his arms around his crush, feeling the fear rushing out in favor for comfort and safety.
They probably would have stayed like that for a bit if Bucky's phone didn't ring at that particular moment. Bucky gently pulled Joaquin away and went to pick up his phone.
“Oh, it's Sam.”
He wondered if the impact had prompted his phone to send the video. He answered and put him on speaker to let Joaquin in the conversation.
“H-”
“JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”
Bucky got taken by surprise. He hadn't heard Sam being this angry for a long time. He shot a look at Joaquin.
“Oh, we're in so much trouble, right?” Joaquin whispered.
Bucky nodded slowly.
But they couldn't resist and started grinning, like two kids being caught the hand in the cookies jar –even though Sam was still shouting hell and back at them.