STORY: Of Slobs And Memories (MCU; Bucky/Steve, Maria)
Summary: No matter how old they will get, some things just never change. But apparently, his boyfriend isn’t the only slob around the Tower.
Notes: Written for
superhero_land Challenge 1x14 „First Line Remake.“ The first line of this story is borrowed from “Overlooking The Obvious“, with all due respect. AU after “Age Of Ultron” (Jarvis could be restored and is back being a smartass AI); could be read as a sequel to my own story “A New Normal”, in which Bucky turns himself in (and isn’t as mashed up in the head as in “Civil War”)
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Bucky stumbled over a discarded stiletto heel as he made his way back into the bedroom and cursed quietly. Of all the good things the serum did to both their bodies, it sadly didn’t change any personality traits. And in Steve’s case, that was really a bad thing.
Back in the day, before the war and the serum and all the other bad things, the fact that Steve was a slob wasn’t as severe as now, since they didn’t have half as much things as today. Sure, Bucky was Steve’s personal maid at any time, but these days, with their wardrobe filled to the brim, coming home from a mission and stumbling over discarded pieces of clothing was Bucky’s least favorite thing.
“Steve!” Bucky yelled. Of course, the little shit that Steve still was didn’t answer. Picking the black stiletto heel up, Bucky considered asking Jarvis about his boyfriend’s whereabouts, though he had a hunch where he could be (and with him the owner of the stiletto heel in his hand). Making a detour to the bathroom (to discard his borrowed SHIELD clothes) and to the kitchen (to grab a bottle of water), Bucky finally arrived at the doorway to their bedroom - and had to suppress a chuckle.
“Aren’t you worried about your image, Agent Hill?” he finally drawled, taking in the sight of Maria Hill sprawled out on their bed, face towards the door, with Steve kneeling next to her, letting his hands roaming her back. If any of them would have been interested in the other sex, Bucky would have been worried, but knowing that Maria was in an equally steady, though secret relationship with Sharon Carter as he and Steve were, eased his mind.
“Nope, Barnes, not at all,” Maria finally answered, half of her words muffled by the pillow she kept under her head and accompanied by a cadence of soft sighs whenever Steve found yet another knot in the muscles of her back. With another, deeper sigh, she looked up. “You know, after all the chaos you two,” she motioned first at Bucky before throwing a thumb over her shoulder at Steve, “left behind in Washington, I finally came to the conclusion that I no longer care what other people think about me.” She locked her gaze with Bucky, and if he wouldn’t have been the guy he was, he would have drowned in the depth of her chocolate brown eyes. “I know a lot of people, both in and out of what’s left of SHIELD and here at SI, see me as an ice queen, thinking that I have no ounce of emotion in me.” A deep sigh. “Well, old Maria would have worried herself sick about it, but this new one here,” she pointed at herself, “doesn’t care at all. At least not with everyone. There’s a lot of people that I care about, and what they think about me. Current company included.”
“Why thank you, ma’am,” Steve finally threw in while getting up from the bed. And not just somehow, but in a way that made both Maria and Bucky following his every step. When he was out of their sight at last, Bucky remembered the stiletto heel he still held in his hand.
“I think that one belongs to you,” he said while he held him out to Maria.
“Oops. Where did you find him?”
“Right next to the front door. You know, I’m, more or less, used to Steve being a slob,” Bucky ignored both Steve’s muffled sound of protest through the bathroom door and Maria’s stunned expression, “but I would never, ever thought of you being one.”
“W… wait a moment,” Maria finally got out while sorting out her clothes, “Captain America is a slob?”
“Oh yeah. Back in Brooklyn, after his Ma passed away, he moved in with me, cause pre-serum, he wouldn’t have survived a week alone,” another muffled protest from the bathroom, “less a whole winter. Not with all his ailments. So, of course, I looked up a cheap but warmer apartment than the one he was living in. If I had known that, next to my job at the docks, I would have to work as his personal maid, I would have reconsidered it,” Bucky finished with a smile.
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Steve threw in, coming out of the bathroom.
“I wouldn’t have?” Bucky echoed, a fake puzzled expression on his face. “And why’s that so, punk?”
“Easy,” Steve began, winking at Maria. “You already loved me back then. You just were too much of a coward to admit, at least to me.” He turned back to Maria. “Consider me colored surprised when the curator of the Cap America exhibition down at the Smithsonian called me some weeks after the whole Triskelion disaster and asked me to come down.”
“You know, I was there too, at the exhibition. Right after I pulled you out of the Potomac,” Bucky admitted with a small voice.
“I know. The curator showed me the tape, though he wasn’t sure. I, on the other hand, was. About everything.” Steve got up and vanished out in the hallway, leaving both Bucky and Maria back curious. Coming back after a few seconds, he held a metal box in his hands. But while Maria only recognized it as rather old, Bucky drew in a sharp breath. Was that…? No, it couldn’t be…? Or…?
“He also gave me this box here,” Steve continued, sitting down on the bed. “They got it from Rebecca’s eldest son, who told him that his Ma kept it under lock and key all those years, no matter where she moved. According to her son, she rather would have starved or frozen or anything else before giving it away. They weren’t allowed to look in, though she told them that it was kind of a family heirloom.”
“And? What’s in it?” Maria asked, fully knowing that she sounded like a little kid right now. And if the twin smiles she got from the guys were anything to go by, they also knew it.
“My bare soul,” Bucky answered, his voice full of emotion.
“What?” Maria looked from Steve to Bucky and back. Was that some kind of code Barnes was speaking?
“You know, back then, having feelings for another man, especially the one you call your best friend, was like walking around with a target on your back. It was more than frowned upon, and there wasn’t a Sunday mess in all the years Steve and I went where Father Reynolds didn’t condemn those who were brave enough to ‘out’ themselves to the deepest depths of hell. So, instead of bringing shame to my family, I wrote, like, a ton of letters to Steve, pouring all my thoughts, feelings onto the pages. Of course, I never sent them.” Bucky stopped, taking a deep breath. “There was too much danger of anyone reading them to do otherwise.” He saw Maria nodding out of the corner of his eye. “But just being able to express my feelings, if only under the cover of the night in my bedroom, in the light of a small, self-made torch, eased my soul immensely.” Bucky finally locked gazes with Steve before looking down at the box still in Steve’s hands. “Never would have thought that Becca would keep it all her life.” He swallowed hard, the memories of his eldest sister flooding his brain. “Did you read them?”
“No,” Steve answered. “I knew somehow that I would get you back, one way or another. Sure, there’s was the chance that we wouldn’t be able to break through all those layers of brainwashing and conditioning, but even then, I would have waited till you remembered enough to read them with me.”
“Ookay, that’s my sign to get out of both your hairs.” Finally finished with dressing, Maria got up from the bed and pressed a light kiss to Steve’s cheek. “As always, thanks Steve for working your magic on my body.” Realizing how it must have sounded, Maria blushed, which in turn caused both Steve and Bucky to chuckle. “Boys, get your mind out of the gutter, or I’ll send both of you on the most boring missions for the next month,” she threatened with a stern voice before leaving the room.
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The End
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This entry was originally posted at https://sandy79.dreamwidth.org/101461.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Notes: Written for
superhero_land Challenge 1x14 „First Line Remake.“ The first line of this story is borrowed from “Overlooking The Obvious“, with all due respect. AU after “Age Of Ultron” (Jarvis could be restored and is back being a smartass AI); could be read as a sequel to my own story “A New Normal”, in which Bucky turns himself in (and isn’t as mashed up in the head as in “Civil War”)
*********************
Bucky stumbled over a discarded stiletto heel as he made his way back into the bedroom and cursed quietly. Of all the good things the serum did to both their bodies, it sadly didn’t change any personality traits. And in Steve’s case, that was really a bad thing.
Back in the day, before the war and the serum and all the other bad things, the fact that Steve was a slob wasn’t as severe as now, since they didn’t have half as much things as today. Sure, Bucky was Steve’s personal maid at any time, but these days, with their wardrobe filled to the brim, coming home from a mission and stumbling over discarded pieces of clothing was Bucky’s least favorite thing.
“Steve!” Bucky yelled. Of course, the little shit that Steve still was didn’t answer. Picking the black stiletto heel up, Bucky considered asking Jarvis about his boyfriend’s whereabouts, though he had a hunch where he could be (and with him the owner of the stiletto heel in his hand). Making a detour to the bathroom (to discard his borrowed SHIELD clothes) and to the kitchen (to grab a bottle of water), Bucky finally arrived at the doorway to their bedroom - and had to suppress a chuckle.
“Aren’t you worried about your image, Agent Hill?” he finally drawled, taking in the sight of Maria Hill sprawled out on their bed, face towards the door, with Steve kneeling next to her, letting his hands roaming her back. If any of them would have been interested in the other sex, Bucky would have been worried, but knowing that Maria was in an equally steady, though secret relationship with Sharon Carter as he and Steve were, eased his mind.
“Nope, Barnes, not at all,” Maria finally answered, half of her words muffled by the pillow she kept under her head and accompanied by a cadence of soft sighs whenever Steve found yet another knot in the muscles of her back. With another, deeper sigh, she looked up. “You know, after all the chaos you two,” she motioned first at Bucky before throwing a thumb over her shoulder at Steve, “left behind in Washington, I finally came to the conclusion that I no longer care what other people think about me.” She locked her gaze with Bucky, and if he wouldn’t have been the guy he was, he would have drowned in the depth of her chocolate brown eyes. “I know a lot of people, both in and out of what’s left of SHIELD and here at SI, see me as an ice queen, thinking that I have no ounce of emotion in me.” A deep sigh. “Well, old Maria would have worried herself sick about it, but this new one here,” she pointed at herself, “doesn’t care at all. At least not with everyone. There’s a lot of people that I care about, and what they think about me. Current company included.”
“Why thank you, ma’am,” Steve finally threw in while getting up from the bed. And not just somehow, but in a way that made both Maria and Bucky following his every step. When he was out of their sight at last, Bucky remembered the stiletto heel he still held in his hand.
“I think that one belongs to you,” he said while he held him out to Maria.
“Oops. Where did you find him?”
“Right next to the front door. You know, I’m, more or less, used to Steve being a slob,” Bucky ignored both Steve’s muffled sound of protest through the bathroom door and Maria’s stunned expression, “but I would never, ever thought of you being one.”
“W… wait a moment,” Maria finally got out while sorting out her clothes, “Captain America is a slob?”
“Oh yeah. Back in Brooklyn, after his Ma passed away, he moved in with me, cause pre-serum, he wouldn’t have survived a week alone,” another muffled protest from the bathroom, “less a whole winter. Not with all his ailments. So, of course, I looked up a cheap but warmer apartment than the one he was living in. If I had known that, next to my job at the docks, I would have to work as his personal maid, I would have reconsidered it,” Bucky finished with a smile.
“No, you wouldn’t have,” Steve threw in, coming out of the bathroom.
“I wouldn’t have?” Bucky echoed, a fake puzzled expression on his face. “And why’s that so, punk?”
“Easy,” Steve began, winking at Maria. “You already loved me back then. You just were too much of a coward to admit, at least to me.” He turned back to Maria. “Consider me colored surprised when the curator of the Cap America exhibition down at the Smithsonian called me some weeks after the whole Triskelion disaster and asked me to come down.”
“You know, I was there too, at the exhibition. Right after I pulled you out of the Potomac,” Bucky admitted with a small voice.
“I know. The curator showed me the tape, though he wasn’t sure. I, on the other hand, was. About everything.” Steve got up and vanished out in the hallway, leaving both Bucky and Maria back curious. Coming back after a few seconds, he held a metal box in his hands. But while Maria only recognized it as rather old, Bucky drew in a sharp breath. Was that…? No, it couldn’t be…? Or…?
“He also gave me this box here,” Steve continued, sitting down on the bed. “They got it from Rebecca’s eldest son, who told him that his Ma kept it under lock and key all those years, no matter where she moved. According to her son, she rather would have starved or frozen or anything else before giving it away. They weren’t allowed to look in, though she told them that it was kind of a family heirloom.”
“And? What’s in it?” Maria asked, fully knowing that she sounded like a little kid right now. And if the twin smiles she got from the guys were anything to go by, they also knew it.
“My bare soul,” Bucky answered, his voice full of emotion.
“What?” Maria looked from Steve to Bucky and back. Was that some kind of code Barnes was speaking?
“You know, back then, having feelings for another man, especially the one you call your best friend, was like walking around with a target on your back. It was more than frowned upon, and there wasn’t a Sunday mess in all the years Steve and I went where Father Reynolds didn’t condemn those who were brave enough to ‘out’ themselves to the deepest depths of hell. So, instead of bringing shame to my family, I wrote, like, a ton of letters to Steve, pouring all my thoughts, feelings onto the pages. Of course, I never sent them.” Bucky stopped, taking a deep breath. “There was too much danger of anyone reading them to do otherwise.” He saw Maria nodding out of the corner of his eye. “But just being able to express my feelings, if only under the cover of the night in my bedroom, in the light of a small, self-made torch, eased my soul immensely.” Bucky finally locked gazes with Steve before looking down at the box still in Steve’s hands. “Never would have thought that Becca would keep it all her life.” He swallowed hard, the memories of his eldest sister flooding his brain. “Did you read them?”
“No,” Steve answered. “I knew somehow that I would get you back, one way or another. Sure, there’s was the chance that we wouldn’t be able to break through all those layers of brainwashing and conditioning, but even then, I would have waited till you remembered enough to read them with me.”
“Ookay, that’s my sign to get out of both your hairs.” Finally finished with dressing, Maria got up from the bed and pressed a light kiss to Steve’s cheek. “As always, thanks Steve for working your magic on my body.” Realizing how it must have sounded, Maria blushed, which in turn caused both Steve and Bucky to chuckle. “Boys, get your mind out of the gutter, or I’ll send both of you on the most boring missions for the next month,” she threatened with a stern voice before leaving the room.
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The End
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This entry was originally posted at https://sandy79.dreamwidth.org/101461.html. Please comment there using OpenID.