Deja Brew

“Tony.”

“No.”

“Tony.”

“No”

“Anthony I swear to god!”

“You, swearing! Gasp”

“Tony I’m serious. Tell me where he is.”

“Cap, buddy. I do not feel comfortable sharing that information with you.”

“You stuck a tracker on my boyfriend who was FUCKING KIDNAPPED. TELL ME WHERE HE IS SO I CAN GO SAVE HIM!”

“Steve, you are too emotionally invested. If it was Pepper who got kidnapped you would bench me. And you would be right to do it. We all like Bucky and want him home safe. Let us do this for you.”

“Fine,” Steve grumbled reluctantly. “But. All of you need to wear cameras and have me on the comms. I want to see what’s happening in real time. If I can’t physically be there I want to see everything.”

“We can do that,” Tony agreed.

“Thank you.”

“Bucky’s location hasn’t changed for a while and probably won’t. I’ll send the address to Fury so we can get started on the recon. With any luck we will have him back by the end of the day.”

Steve gave a curt nod, then asked if he was needed for anything else. When Tony said no, Steve made his way to the gym so he could finally punch something.

He wasn’t entirely sure how long he was in front of the heavy bag, but by the time he was done his knuckles were bleeding and there was sand pouring out of a ripped seam.

All he wanted to do was force Tony to give him the location and get Bucky back. Part of him didn’t care that he was too emotionally invested in it. That’s what made him who he was. He would dive into any situation head first without thinking about the consequences. He just wanted to do the right thing.

But this was different. This was personal. All those other times he acted before thinking, the only person he was putting at risk was himself. Now he had another person to think about. Now he had to weigh the consequences of his action. His bullheadedness could get the man he loves killed, all because he wasn’t going in with a clear head.

He hated how right everyone was about the situation. He hated that he would have to sit idly by as his fellow Avengers did all the work. Sure, he could aid them through the coms since he would be watching live video, but he wouldn’t be there to help them if they needed it. If one of them got hurt, that would be on him.

Since he had destroyed the heavy bag, he switched to running. The treadmill in the gym was custom made by Tony so that Steve could run as fast as he wanted to. The team learned very quickly that a normal treadmill didn’t reach a high enough speed for him.

Steve ran until he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. He wasn’t sure how long he was at it, but it was now dark out. When he shut the machine off and stepped off of it, he saw Natasha leaning up against the wall behind him.

“How long have you been standing there?” He breathed out.

“Not long. Longer that it should have taken you to notice me,” she chastises him.

“If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not in the best frame of mind at the moment.”

“I’m aware.”

“Why are you here?”

“I need to talk to you. After you shower. You smell like a locker room.”

With that being said, Natasha left the gym.

Steve went back up to his floor to take a shower, a quick one at that. He assumed whatever Natasha had to tell him was about Bucky.

Once he was finally out and dressed, Jarvis directed him to where Natasha and the rest of the team were. When he got to the conference room Clint, Natasha, and Thor were suited up, Bruce was there in case a code green was necessary, and Tony and Pepper were setting up monitors, as well as making sure that everyone had cameras on their suits.

“So you know where he is now?” Steve asked Tony, who didn’t look up from his task to respond.

“Technically I’ve known where he has been this entire time. We were just waiting for his location to remain constant for a little while, which it has. Romanov also needed time to make her extraction plan,” Tony explained.

“How far out is he? And what’s the plan?”

“Not that far,” Natasha jumped in. “It will take about 15 minutes on the quinjet to reach him. After tha, Clint and I go in as quietly as possible with Tony and Thor on the perimeter in case we need a little more fire power. Bruce will be waiting in the quinjet unless a code green is required. Theoretically, we should be in and out in less than 20 minutes. Assuming that they don’t have him heavily guarded. They have no idea we know where they are holding Bucky. Don’t worry Steve, we will have him back to you within the next hour and a half at most.”

Steve was relieved when Natasha explained the plan to him. If everything went according to it, he would have Bucky back in his arms in no time. He knew his team knew what they were doing. He had done many ops like this with them since he joined the team. The odds were, Tony and Thor wouldn’t even be needed.

But even though he was confident in his team, Steve still found himself praying to a God he wasn’t entirely sure he believed in anymore.

Once all the monitors and cameras were in place and fully functional, the team made their way out of the conference room, leaving Steve with Pepper. She made her way over to the chairs in front of the monitors and motioned for him to join her. When he was seated next to her, she took his hand in hers and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s going to be okay Steve. They will have him before you know it,” she said softly.

“The logical part of me knows that’s the case,” he started.

“But in a situation like this, all logical thought goes out the window?” She finished.

“Yeah. I just wish that I was there with them.”

“Remember that I know what you are going through. When Tony got kidnapped I felt so helpless. All I could do was coordinate or make phone calls to the people who could help to find him. Though, I get the feeling you feel even more helpless. With Tony, I knew there was nothing more that I could do. I couldn’t fly out to the Middle East and run around the desert to try and find him. You, on the other hand, know that technically you can be out there with them. Knowing you could help and being benched must feel terrible.”

“I just wish that I had control over the situation. He’s my boyfriend so I should be there taking the lead. I feel like I should be the first face that he sees when he’s being rescued. It makes me worry that he will think he’s not important to me because I wasn’t out there fighting to get him back.”

“Bucky is an intelligent man Steve. He will understand why you couldn’t be there. You would be fighting with your heart, not your head, and that can be a dangerous thing in these types of situations.”

“Hopefully he does.”

“Earth to Capsicle and Pep,” Tony’s voice rang out through the speakers. One, your mics are on so we all got to hear your little heart-to-heart. Two, I will be sure to take full responsibility for benching you. I will even tell him you threatened my life. And three, we are about to land. It’s go time.”

Pepper gave Steve’s hand another squeeze as they watched the monitors.

The quinjet landed and the team made their way out. Tony wrapped his arms around Clint and Natasha to fly them up to the roof before making his way back to his position on the perimeter. Thor was on the opposite side of the building from Tony.

Once they were on the roof, Clint and Natasha made their way into the building through the air vents. They signed something to each other before going their separate ways in the ducts. Steve was on the edge of his seat watching as the pair of spies would stop at every vent to see what was in the room.

After a few tense minutes of searching Clint finally stopped and worked on prying open a vent.

“I’ve got him Cap,” he whispered just loud enough for the team to hear. “I’m going in.”

Steve was laser focused on cClint’s monitor. It got blurry for a moment as he silently jumped out of the duct. When he landed, the camera was directly facing Bucky, who was bound to a chair, blindfolded, and slightly bloodied.

“Who’s in here?” Bucky croaked out, his voice gravely as if he had been shouting.

“Hawkeye,” Clint whispered. “I’m here to get you out and back to your boyfriend.”

Clint walked over to the chair and pulled off Bucky’s blindfold first. Up close, Steve could see that his face was bruised and that the cut above his eyebrow was still bleeding a little. Steve wasn’t happy to see the injuries, but was so relieved to see that Bucky was mostly okay.

“Where’s Steve?” He asked Clint as he untied the ropes around his wrists, chest, and legs.

“Stark benched him. Don't worry, your boy put up a fight to be brought along, but we didn’t give him a choice. He’s watching all of this though cameras on our suits and he’s patched in on our coms. Here,” Clint explained, taking out his com to put it into Bucky’s ear. “Just remember that the entire team can hear everything you are saying.

“Stevie?”

“Hey sweetheart, I’m here. Clint and everyone else are going to get you home nice and safe. I’ll be right there when the quinjet lands.”

Before Bucky could respond, Steve heard gunshots going off and a string of expletives coming from Natasha.

“Stark, Thor. We need some back up, like yesterday.”

“On it Romanov, what’s your 20,” Tony said, flying into action, Thor not far behind him.

“Bucky, baby, you’re gonna have to give the com back to Clint so he can get you out of there safely.”

“Okay,” Bucky said as he handed the com back to Clint.

Once the com was back on Clint's ear Steve snapped.

“What the fuck Romanov?”

“Someone had to get some fucking intel on these bastards,” she said between punching and kicking.

“Was this some more of Fury’s precious delegating? The mission is to rescue Bucky.”

“No, everyone else’s mission was to rescue Bucky. Mine was to steal their hard drives.”

“Steve, you and Romanov fighting isn’t helping anything!” Tony shouted over them. “If anything, it’s making it harder for us to focus.”

“Hey, Clint jumped in. “Anyone know if the ducts are fair game? I wanna get Barnes out of here as quickly as possible.”

“I’m not sure if that is the best of ideas with all the bullets and repulsor beams flying around,” Tony explained. “Tell me where you are and Thunder thighs and I will clear a path.”

Clint rattled off their location and the rest of the team made their way over. It took a few minutes, but they eventually made their way to the room to get Clint and Bucky out.

As they headed out of the building, Thor took the lead, Clint and Natasha were on either side of Bucky, with Tony pulling up the rear.

By the time they made it back to the quinjet, Bruce had started it up so they were ready to go.

Clint and Natasha took their places in the cockpit, Thor sat down in one of the seats towards the back of the quintet, Tony led Bucky to a seat closer to the cockpit, and Bruce sat next to Bucky with a first aid kit at the ready.

“Welcome back kid,” Tony smiled as Bruce began to clean up Bucky’s wounds. “What’s the first thing you want when you get back? When I finally made it back to the good ole U.S.of.A all I could think about was getting a cheeseburger. You want cheeseburgers?”

“All I want is to hug my boyfriend,” Bucky answered honestly. “And a nap.”

“I think we can make that happen, Buckaroo. We should be back to the tower in ten minutes.”

“Good.”

Steve left the com in his ear, but left the conference room with Pepper trailing behind him. He wanted to be there the second the quinjet landed.

After waiting Tony’s predicted ten minutes, Steve could see the quinjet making its approach. The second it was on the ground, Steve walked over to where he knew the doors would open.

When the doors opened, Bucky ran out of the quinjet and practically jumped into Steve’s arms. He wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his face into Steve’s shoulder. Steve, thankful for his strength, pulled Bucky up by his thighs so he could wrap around him like a koala.

“Do you want to go back to my floor and lay down?” Steve asked.

Instead of responding verbally, Bucky nodded his head.

Without waiting for approval from his teammates, Steve carried Bucky back down to his room. He knew they would have to debrief at some point, but that would have to wait. His boyfriend needed him there for comfort, so he would provide it for him.

Instead of going straight to the bed, Steve placed Bucky down on the counter by the sink and began to draw a bath. Bucky gave him a questioning look, but seemed to figure out where Steve was going with this. He pulled out a lavender bath bomb and added it to the tub as it filled up.

“Do you want me to join you in the tub, sit next to it, or leave you alone?” Steve questioned as he shut off the water.

“With me,” Bucky mumbled.

Steve nodded and gave him a peck on the cheek before prompting him to hop off the counter. He helped Bucky out of his clothes, then pulled off his own. Steve got into the tub first to allow Bucky to sit comfortably between his legs, back to chest.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, savoring the feeling of being back together before Bucky spoke up.

“So, how did you guys find me?”

Steve stiffened, and not in the fun way, behind him. Clearly, Tony had not informed him about the tracker.

“Before I tell you, just know that I wasn’t aware of this until after you were taken.”

“Now I’m a little worried.”

“Well, you see. Tony decided to implant a tracker somewhere on your body. I don’t know how and I don’t know where, but I’ve never been so thankful for that man’s lack of boundaries.”

“You and me both.”

They fell back into a peaceful silence, Bucky leaning back against Steve, who would plant a kiss on his head every so often.

Eventually the water was too cold to be enjoyable, so they had to get out. Steve wrapped Bucky up in the fluffiest towel he owned. He then found him the comfiest sweatpants and shirt in his closet. After everything he went through in the last day, Steve wanted Bucky to be as comfortable as possible.

He pulled back the covers and the two of them crawled into bed together. Bucky snuggled up close to Steve, who wrapped his arm securely around the brunette's waist. He gave him a peck on the forehead as he pulled him closer.

“Thank you,” Bucky whipped into Steve’s chest.

“For what?”

“For saving me. I know you weren’t there in person, but you still had a hand in it. So thank you.”

“I’ll always save you, sweetheart. Though, let’s hope we are never in a situation like that again.”

Bucky chuckled as he shifted away a little so that he could look up at Steve.

“Hey Stevie?”

“Yeah Buck?”

“I love you,” Bucky said shyly.

“I love you too,” Steve repeated with a smile on his face.

Bucky reached up to place a chaste kiss on Steve’s lips before burrowing back into his arms. It wasn’t long before he fell into a peaceful sleep.

Steve spent longer than he was willing to admit watching Bucky sleep. He couldn’t help himself. Bucky looked so peaceful. He was also hopelessly in love with the man in his arms.

For the first time in a while, Steve fell asleep with a smile on his face. And it was all thanks to the beautiful man who he had wrapped up in his arms. The man that he loved, and who loved him back.