Re: Sleigh 2: Bucky and Steve (UTC +7 to +8)
"I'm sure you could have," Bucky agreed, knowing they both knew better. It didn't matter. Bucky had never treated Steve like he was different before, even if he was simultaneously trying to take care of him because Steve had a tendency to hit well above his weight class. "Life with three sisters." He laughed softly. "But, you're right. Probably best you didn't know at the time. Much as I love you, if you'd broken one of their hearts, I'd have had to defend their honor as the big brother and that would have just been awkward."
Chuckling, he shook his head. "He didn't think that one through, that's for sure. One fight, you called me by name, and all their carefully maintained programming just started to crack. Fucker tried to tell me I didn't really know you, had just seen you on a prior mission." Bucky snorted in disbelief. "Russia isn't who took me away, though. That was all Zola. He was the one who knew there was something to be taken away. But..." he took a deep breath. "That's over. I'm not going anywhere, now. You're stuck with me."
Nodding, he pressed companionably against Steve's side for a moment. "Too many shades of grey. You do better when there's a very clear cut line between right and wrong." Steve had never been cut out for the shadows, not like Bucky who was perfectly happy to blur lines, even before the war, if it meant keeping the people he cared about alive and healthy. He smiled softly. It was enough for him Steve seemed to understand his interest in the master of sleep. "Nah, Santa's the mission. The better we focus on that, the sooner we can get back to rooms we can stand up straight in."