Warnings: 18+, language, mentions of violence/war (brief), smut, threesome, mention of pain kink (brief).
A/N: Welcome to the complicated world I created just for us.
The first time Bucky had seen you had been the same as today; you walking away, unaware of his gaze. This time however it wasn’t in the streets of Bucharest, rather the heart of New York City. This time, you weren’t walking away to be unsuspicious, to remain another face in the crowd while secretly determining how to help Steve convince him that Captain America wanted to help Bucky. No, now you were walking alone, leaves crunching underfoot as you hurried away from the Tower with fresh tears staining your cheeks.
The biggest difference, however, was that Bucky knew you now. He wasn’t trying to hide from anyone when he hurried out of the Tower after you. He followed, unsure of what exactly was going on but knowing enough to keep a polite distance. He had been showering when you were in the kitchen with Steve, having a conversation, and had been dressing when the sound of the front door slamming met his ears, followed by Steve cursing aloud.
As much as he wanted to comfort him, Bucky knew that you needed him more, and so he followed.
…Bucky was watching Steve, watching you. The handsome blonde was scrutinizing the way you were drinking the glass of water the waiter had set on the table before you, not masking his concern.
In truth, you were gulping it down as though you’d been stranded in the desert for a month, but this had become the norm for you, another sign of your pregnancy. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, even with your powers.
Bucky had been keeping a closer eye on you as well, so he didn’t blame Steve, really. But he was being too obvious, and in an effort to prevent you from noticing and becoming worried about him in return, Bucky gently kicks Steve under the table.
Those bright blue eyes snap to his own, and a somewhat meek expression plays over his face. “So, um,” Steve clears his throat and looks at you again, this time with a small smile tugging the corners of his lips. “Bucky and I have been talking-“
You snort adorably, your eyebrow quirking, “oh, just talking? I thought I heard a little more than tha—“
“Yes, well,” He interjects as Bucky laughs, “amongst other activities we talked. About you, the baby, and our next steps.”
At this, you set your water down and glance between them, eyes narrowing. Bucky already sensed your thoughts—that they had been plotting behind your back. He automatically reaches out and drapes an arm around your shoulders.
“Not like that, sweet girl,” Steve corrects, his eyes briefly meeting Bucky’s before he gives you a nervous smile. He hesitates and Bucky gives him an encouraging nod. “I was hoping—that is, will you marry me?”…
…Bucky doesn’t hesitate to move around the room; Ayo’s eyes follow him the entire time, lit with amusement. “Where did she go?” He demands, his voice low with respect but edged, leaving no room for argument.
Ayo only smiles wider, “You might want to make a visit to your room, White Wolf.”
He gives her a curt nod before hurrying away, his mind running hundreds of scenarios, most of them involving you slapping him for leaving the way he did. Or maybe you wanted to tell him off before the world ended—he wouldn’t blame you.
When he gets to his room, the door is ajar and he steps inside quietly, pushing it shut behind him. You’re standing at his bedside table, a hand tracing over the book he was reading—The Hobbit, an old favorite.
“You don’t need to feel so guilty, Bucky. I knew you were going to leave.”
He stills, surveying you slowly and lifting his brows as he considers the implication behind your words. “You can sense…me, that well?” He knew your powers were strong, yet to have dug in so deep…
You shrug, turning to face him and crossing your arms, “If I really focus, I can pick up on a lot of emotions. But certain people seem…I’m tuned into them better, I guess.”
“AndI’m one of the ones you can tune into…?”
“One of very few that I can to that degree, actually.”
Your gaze falls away and you bite your lip, as if aware that you’ve revealed more than you’d wanted to. Bucky frowns, “Who else can you—?”
“My parents. Steve. You,” A thrill runs down his spine at the admission, and hope flares within. You must feel it, because you smile. “Come on, Bucky Barnes. You must have realized how I felt. Feel.”…
18+ Takes place after the events of Endgame and TFATWS—AU where Steve does not stay in the past with Peggy and instead retires. Sam is Captain America.
Autumn in New York City, the air is crisp, the colours vibrant, and the world is beginning to settle. Steve Rogers and the rest of the Avengers saved the world—the galaxy—but if anyone had bothered to ask him, they’d have found out that the driving force for him had been bringing back Bucky and you—who had disappeared right in front of him when Thanos snapped his fingers. Loving and losing like that took its toll on Steve, even if he did succeed in getting you both back…
Bucky Barnes constantly, both pre and post blip, struggled with his feelings. How he felt for Steve. How he felt for you. Whenever he started to get his head straight, something major and world ending would happen. When he comes back from the blip and reunites with you and Steve after the battle against Thanos, the joy only lasts so long. And once Steve’s happy facade begins to crack, the love he has for his lifetime best friend gets pulled into question…
You had been an Avengers recruit, brought to the team by your longtime friend Sam Wilson not long after he’d joined up. He knew of your abilities and figured you’d thrive with the team. And while he was right, you had never counted on falling in love with Steve Rogers, nor him loving you back. Life, in that personal sense, seemed to be happy until you helped Steve rescue his best friend. The real man behind the Winter Soldier warped your perception of everything, made you question who you really were, and that was before the blip…
This story is a tangled, weaving journey our reader, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes navigate as they push past societal standards, learn to accept who they are, and deal with their own traumas. Steve is retired, Bucky needs to find a new purpose now that he’s forever freed from the Soldat, and you want to stop feeling stuck between the two men you love the most and focus on the future.
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…The first time Bucky had seen you, had been the same as now; you walking away, unaware of his gaze. This time though, it wasn’t in the streets of Bucharest, now it was in heart of New York. This time, you weren’t walking away to be unsuspicious, to remain another face in the crowd while secretly determining how to help Steve convince him that he wanted to help Bucky. No, now you were walking alone, leaves crunching underfoot as you hurried away from the Tower with fresh tears staining your cheeks.
This time however, Bucky wasn’t trying to hide from you. So he followed, keeping a polite distance but remaining close enough to protect you.
He’d been mesmerized by you the moment he saw you that first time. You were with Steve, hunting him—the Winter Soldier—trying to find Bucky before SHEILD or anyone else could. He remembers being torn between looking at Steve, taking in how his best friend had changed over all the years that had passed while he was the Winter Soldier, and gazing at you.
The first time he saw Steve touch you in an affectionate way that signaled the romance between you, Bucky had felt a rip tear in his heart. He had always loved Steve. He would, he knew, until the day he died. But it wasn’t quite jealousy that he felt as he surreptitiously surveyed the two of you from the containment pod he’d been placed in after you had all been arrested. It was a new feeling, a mixture of deep longing and sorrow, intense attraction, a need to feel wanted.
To love and be loved endlessly.
And then they were all on the run, and Bucky found himself readjusting to his mind and body, free from the Soldat, while simultaneously falling for you and harder for Steve. It was a terribly confusing, difficult time—he had always been unsure and afraid of how he felt for Steve Rogers. For so much time to have passed, to feel those things for his best friend again, it was overwhelming. Add to that the way he reverently admired you, and he wasn’t functioning at his best. It was months of the best kind of agony.
Now though, as you walked quickly up ahead, it wasn’t about Steve, or Bucky even. It was about you, and the ways you had suffered since Bucky came into your life. You were like a bright star in everyone’s life, a constant, strong and beautiful and so full of life—but your gasping cries that you were attempting to suppress, which his enhanced hearing caught with ease, told him you were breaking.
Breaking because you were in an impossible situation, between Steve and him. If you were a star, then Steve was the sun and that meant that he, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, was the moon. And you were stuck between them. Between the sun and the moon…
