Chapter 1
"On your left," Steve shouts playfully, as he passes his friend, Sam.
"Fuck you, Rogers," Sam shouts back breathlessly, playfully flipping him off.
"Sorry, already taken," Steve says, turning to smile at the spot on the other side of Sam, expecting Bucky to be there. However, his boyfriend is nowhere in sight. Steve immediately stops in his tracks and looks around, since Bucky loves to prank them; last time he hid in the bushes and jumped out, causing Steve to almost pee his pants. Steve then turns around and sees that a couple of yards behind them, Bucky has braced himself against one of the park benches and appears to be struggling to catch his breath.
"Hey, baby, are you okay?" Steve asks, furrowing his brows in concern as he walks over to Bucky, placing his hand on his boyfriend's back. "Does your chest hurt? What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Bucky replies, sounding a little bit out of breath. "I just felt tired and then out of breath, but I'm pretty sure I'm fine now."
"I'm no doctor, but I think maybe we should take the rest of the run easy, or maybe we should go back to the tower," Sam says.
"No, don't cut your run short on my account," Bucky says. "Just got a little out of breath, that's all."
"We're not cutting it short, we're actually almost done," Sam lies, so as not to make Bucky uncomfortable. "I wanted to do a shorter run today; I'm going to focus on weights more when we get back to the tower."
"Well," Bucky looks a little bit skeptical,"in that case, okay."
Steve smiles and puts his arm around his beautiful boyfriend as they walk back to the tower.
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"You guys are back early," Natasha says, taking sip of her smoothie as Thor makes a Pop Tart. Steve shoots her a warning glare and she immediately says, "So, there's nothing really going on today or tomorrow, so Fury said we can all just relax. Bucky, you wanna go on that tour I told you about? They have a lot of open spaces available since it's the week and it's not tourist season."
"Not today, thanks," Bucky says, stretching. "I'm actually feeling pretty tired."
Steve, Sam, and Natasha share a look. Bucky doesn't get tired, unless of course they've been fighting a really difficult battle. However, just as one of them is about to say something, the Pop Tart pops out of the toaster and Thor cheers, "A snack for the son of Odin!"
Bucky's not really sure what it is, but the unusually strong, sugary smell of the Pop Tart hits him hard, and causes his head to swim.
"Thor, is that a new Pop Tart flavor?" Bucky asks, pinching the area between his eyes and doing his best to breathe through his mouth as the smell started to make his stomach a bit upset.
"Nay, James, it is but a Confettied Cupcake," Thor says, happily taking a large bite. He then holds out a Pop Tart to Bucky and asks, "Do you wish to try some of this delicious snack?"
Bucky swallows against the sudden queasiness that has occurred from this sugary thing being thrusted in his face, before replying, "No thanks. I'm actually going to go to Steve's and my room to shower and continue reading the book that Pepper gave me. Excuse me a second."
The four of them watch as Bucky leaves the kitchen and turns the corner to walk to his room.
"So what's up with him?" Natasha asks as soon as Bucky's out of earshot.
"I'm not sure, but I don't like it," Steve says, frowning. "He got out of breath this morning when we were running, which never happens, and now he's tired. I hope he's not getting sick or something. But the serum was supposed to prevent sickness, or so I thought.
"He could just be tired," Natasha says. "I know it sounds unlikely but sometimes even I get tired for seemingly no reason; I think with this lifestyle it's to be expected."
"I still don't like it, I'm gonna go check on him," Steve says, walking out of the kitchen.
"Ask him what he wants for dinner?" Natasha calls down the hallway. "Tony's picking up something from that East Asian place we all like."
When he reaches their room, he expects to see Bucky reading his book, but instead he sees Bucky curled up on top of the covers wearing on of Steve's hoodies and sweatpants and his hair in bun, fast asleep.
Steve frowns and walks over to his sleeping boyfriend. He feels his forehead for fever, which thankfully there is none, but Bucky wakes up.
"Hey, baby, how are you feeling?" Steve asks, sitting next to Bucky and placing his head in his lap so he can play with his boyfriend's hair.
"'M fine, Steve, just tired," Bucky says, yawning. "I just have a little headache, but it's only because I'm tired."
"Okay, Bucky," Steve says, softly placing a kiss to Bucky's forehead. "What happened today when we were running? I got worried."
"It was nothing," Bucky says, closing his eyes as Steve softly massages his head. "I've just been getting out of breath quicker lately, but it's probably nothing. I haven't really been eating that healthily either, so that probably plays a part in it too."
"Okay, baby," Steve says. "Oh, by the way, what do you want for dinner? Tony's bringing home some takeout from that place you like."
Steve notices that Bucky slightly wrinkles his nose before saying, "Actually Stevie, I think I'm gonna turn in early tonight. Tell Tony I'm not really that hungry. Wait, did you say that it's from the restaurant I like?"
"Yeah, the one with the really good shrimp dumplings," Steve replies, practically drooling at the thought of biting into one of those dumplings.
"Well in that case..."
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"Jesus, Barnes, no one's gonna take your food from you," Tony chuckles as he takes another bite of his fried rice, watching the former assassin absolutely devour his food.
"Oh, sorry," Bucky says, blushing as he slows down the rate at which he's practically inhaling his lo mein. "It's just so good."
"I'm just glad that you're looking better than before," Steve says after he swallows a dumpling. "You were probably just hungry."
"Okay, so tomorrow," Tony says, checking his phone. "Fury wants Bruce, Barnes, Natasha, and I to fly out to LA for some training exercise or something, I'm not really sure what, but we need to go. We leave first thing in the morning."
Bucky finishes his lo mein and smiles when Steve lets him dip in to some of his dumplings.
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About a three hours or so later, Bucky is breathing hard as Steve rolls off of him. They're both covered in sweat and probably look awful, but Steve looks at Bucky like he's the most beautiful thing he's ever laid his eyes on.
"What?" Bucky asks his boyfriend, who has a stupid grin on his face.
"You're so gorgeous," Steve sighs, smiling lovingly at Bucky. His Bucky.
"Oh stop, you big sap," Bucky says, playfully rolling his eyes and grinning.
"I love you," Steve says in a high-pitched voice, rolling over and placing kisses all over Bucky's face. "I love you so much. Cuddle?"
Bucky sighs jokingly and presses himself into Steve's side, loving how he fits perfectly into his boyfriend's embrace.
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It was only eight in the morning and Bucky was already having a bad day.
It all started when he woke up feeling like crap. He had a headache, and his stomach felt upset. Then, when he went to the kitchen to make himself some ginger tea to hopefully settle his stomach, he saw that someone had left an empty box of tea in the cabinet, and not only did they not have ginger tea, they didn't have tea period. And then it all went downhill when he remembered that he would be getting on a plane.
First of all, Bucky hated heights. Yeah, falling off a train on a mountain will do that to you. Secondly, he also couldn't stand closed spaces. They reminded him too much of his time with Hydra. Add both together and you get an airplane.
Bucky really doesn't like flying. He hates how his stomach drops when they takeoff, hit turbulence, or land, so basically his stomach isn't happy the entire flight, he hates how loud they are, and he hates the way they smell.
Now, about an hour into the flight and Bucky feels absolutely miserable. The air pressure has succeeded in giving him an awful headache and his stomach already felt queasy before boarding the plane, but now he's actually worried he might throw up before they land. And he has six more hours of this torture. Great.
Bucky swallows hard as the quinjet dips as it hits an air pocket and pinches the area between his eyes. He feels a cold sweat break out on his forehead and the back of his neck; he feels how his hands, well his flesh one, tremble and shake; he feels as if all the blood from his face has left it, leaving him feeling shaky, weak, and dizzy; and he feels how his stomach churns up the breakfast sandwich Natasha made him eat when she said that he was looking pale.
"Hey, Barnes, you okay?"
Bucky hadn't realized he had clenched his eyes shut until he opens them to see Bruce, Tony, and Natasha looking at him in a concerned manner. That is, until the room starts to spin.
"Tony, he doesn't look so good," Bruce says. Bucky shakes off the dizziness and opens his eyes again.
"Barnes, hey you feeling okay?" Tony asks. "You look like you're about to hurl."
Bucky feels like he's about to hurl. Bucky's eyes go wide as his stomach suddenly feels as if the quinjet had just done a barrel-roll, before lurching forward, clamping a hand over his mouth, and making a mad dash for the quinjet's bathroom.
Once Bucky gets the door to the tiny bathroom closed, he steadies himself against the sink as he wills himself not to puke. He takes several deep breaths and looks up at himself in the mirror; Tony was right, he does look like he's about to hurl. His face looks practically green.
Bucky's stomach lurches and he immediately kneels down, flips up the toilet seat, and pukes. He hopes the others don't hear him, but that's wishful thinking, since he's never gotten sick quietly. He tries to take a breath, but he hiccups, burps, and pukes again in the toilet. He feels really crappy and wishes that Steve was here, rubbing his back and comforting him.