Who: Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes What: Married and Annoyed When: Monday late afternoon Where: Their place Warnings: None! Status: Closed/Complete
After a good long talk with Veronica about the situation they were in, Steve’s next stop was Bucky. Bucky more than anyone else should have known something wasn’t right, should have said something and should have tried to stop. They’d decided, much to Steve’s relief, to give it a try, to put the work into making it last despite neither of them being close to ready for that kind of commitment again. But it wasn’t a decision they should’ve had to have made at all.
Going home, Steve poked around the house a little until he found Bucky, Molly thankfully out, that was a completely different conversation to have.
“You and me need to talk, pal,” he said in place of a real greeting, irritation written all over his features.
It wasn’t right, him and Veronica in this position. They might’ve very well gotten there on their own eventually but now was too soon. It made things that much harder.
***
Bucky was at home, cooking just to keep his mind occupied while he tried to deal with the fallout from what had honestly been a pretty great week. He and Kara had moved in together, his best pal got married to a great woman, and they were all becoming one big family. Hell, he'd even bought the house at the end of the street to surprise Steve and the girls with. That last tidbit hadn't come out just yet, but it wasn't like he could keep it under wraps for long.
That wasn't the only thing he was working his way through. In moving in and having a deeper relationship with Kara, they'd also had sex. Unprotected sex, multiple times, and he hadn't pulled out. They'd thought she was on birth control only that wasn't actually a thing so there was a very real possibility, however slim, that Kara was pregnant. To say that Bucky was terrified was a gross understatement.
When Steve walked in, Bucky was clearly frazzled, elbow deep in dough for something or another. He was working on autopilot so he wasn't sure what he was making. He ignored the irritation because he just couldn't focus past the idea that he and Kara had leapt forward a dozen or so steps in their relationship unknowingly.
"Kara can't move out," he replied, his face twisting up as he said it. That was where his mind was at though, so that was what Steve had to deal with.
***
That wasn’t any of the responses that Steve might have been expecting. What he was expecting was anyone’s guess, but it certainly wasn’t that. And for a second, he was actually stunned into forgetting why he was irritated and why he’d sought Bucky out for a conversation.
“No. No you guys are good.” He wasn’t aware there were any problems, anything that Bucky might be dealing with, though something was clearly eating at him and as soon as Steve made his point he’d be all over that.
He moved to lean against the counter, arms crossed rather than sliding into help like he normally would have. “So, I’m married. And you knew something wasn’t right about it.”
And hadn’t said anything.
***
Bucky nodded at Steve's assurance that Kara wouldn't have to leave. It would have meant he was leaving too and separating from Steve wasn't something he was ready for. Whatever it was that his pal was upset about, they'd get through it. When it turned out he was mad about getting married, Bucky nodded solemnly.
"Thought I was missing time again," he admitted as he worked. "I didn't want to ruin the day you'd spent a year planning. Kara couldn't remember anything about you two getting married either. We talked about it, after dinner that night. The day she moved in. She wasn't supposed to move in."
But she had and Steve had gotten married, and weren't they happier anyway? He bit his lip to stop himself from sharing about the house. Best to work through one thing at a time.
***
Moving in wasn’t quite the step that marriage was, but Steve knew how big it was to Bucky after everything he’d been through. It wasn’t something he was ready for, but at least if that went badly, it didn’t mean divorce. There was that going for them.
“I know.” Of course he knew. That wouldn’t happen without a conversation and Steve had definitely not been a part of a conversation. He should’ve said something himself. He would have, normally. Maybe not speaking up when it was important to was just a part of what had been going on. With a sigh, he rubbed a hand over his face, most of the anger draining out of him. It was hard to be mad at Bucky.
“Look, Buck, I don’t care what you think you’re ruining, if something doesn’t feel right, say so.” If he was missing time, that was a bigger issue anyway. “You and me, we’ve got to look out for each other.”
And prevent each other from making potentially disastrous decisions like getting married.
***
Bucky stopped what he was doing so that he could turn and look at Steve. "It didn't feel right because I thought I was missing time. You two felt right." He liked Veronica. He liked the way Steve laughed with her, the way his eyes crinkled and sparkled. It meant he was happy. Steve being happy was Bucky's number one priority and Veronica made him happy.
"V's not perfect, but neither are you, punk. You both know that and you love each other anyway. That was why I didn't ask for more intel." Bucky had arranged for a bachelor party, had bought a house. If he'd honest to God - even though he didn't believe in God - thought that Steve was making a mistake, he would have said something.
Peggy would have been good for Steve if they'd both made it home from the war. Sharon never would have lasted. Veronica could last if the dome didn't interfere. She could fill in the pieces that he couldn't, to make Steve whole.
***
Love wasn’t something that Steve would say he felt for Veronica. He liked her, sure, cared for her, absolutely, but love? It was too soon for that. He loved Bucky, he loved their kid. But he and Veronica hadn’t been together for more than six months; it was too soon to say love. Not being able to say that was the one risk to making it work, in his opinion.
“I still need you to let me know if something’s off,” Steve insisted. Whether it was about him or not, he needed to be told. Sighing, he glanced toward Bucky, a small smile trying to peek out. “You really think we’re good?”
That was important to him. Bucky’s approval. And he needed it more than he ever had right now, when he was unsure of so much.
***
Bucky weighed Steve's request against what he already had swirling around in his head. Kara could very well be pregnant right now. The house at the end of the street belonged to them. There wasn't anything that could be done about Steve and Veronica's marriage, or if Kara was pregnant, but they could do something about the house.
"Yes. You were happy, in love. Whole. Our family was whole. Unconventional maybe, but it was good." It had been really good. Bucky wanted to go back to the easy way he'd held Kara and made love to her, how well they coexisted in one space. "It happened once, it can happen again." He needed that to be true for his own relationship.
"Kara might be pregnant."
***
That was one hell of a way to derail all of Steve’s concerns about himself. And definitely explained why his best friend was acting a little off. There was no way that Bucky was ready for that. Even less so than Steve was ready to be married.
“This last week?” he wagered. He didn’t know the details of Bucky’s relationship, would never ask for them, but he knew they’d have talked about a big step like that. Steve had told Bucky as soon as he and Veronica had taken it. He told Bucky everything and knew Bucky would do the same. “That’s...wow.”
Obviously if she was, that was that, but there was probably no way for anyone to know for sure this soon.
***
Bucky nodded. "Where we were at, we'd talked about it." That had been a revelation he hadn't quite been prepared for. He'd told her so much, more than he'd told Steve about some things. He'd given her a great deal of trust and she'd loved him still anyway. She'd still wanted his hands on her.
"Only, all the things we'd talked about were months in the future. The things we thought were in place were things we'd done then, not now." So they'd had quite a bit of unprotected sex and until her next menstruation came, they wouldn't know for sure. "She can't move out, doesn't want to. I don't- know why she still loves me, but she does."
He loved her, too.
***
“She’s right to.” Bucky was easy to love. Even if he didn’t see it. Steve would fight anyone who said otherwise.
The possibility of Kara being pregnant, though, added another dimension to the troubles that had come with the most recent bout of town insanity. With needing to find space for both Veronica and Summer, there definitely wasn’t room in the house. Moving into Veronica’s wasn’t an option either. There wasn’t any more room there, and Steve couldn’t take Molly and go, couldn’t leave Molly and go; they were a family here, and they needed to stay together.
Steve sighed again. “There’s no use in worrying about whether you guys are expecting or not until you can find out for sure. In the meantime, why don’t the four of us sit down and figure out our living situation.”
Because obviously Kara wasn’t moving out, pregnant or not. She was important to Bucky and by extension that meant important to Steve. And he liked her apart from that anyway. He was glad she wanted to stick around, give living together a shot; almost as glad as he was Veronica had wanted to give marriage one.
***
Steve could be the levelheaded one when it suited him. Bucky was okay with that because he felt like he was barely holding on to his calm at the moment. Steve was right that they all needed to talk, but before they did that, there was one more vital piece of information to share.
"Do you remember that night, we talked about the house down the street?" he asked, going back to the dough he'd been making. For bread, from the looks of it. It was almost ready to be set aside to prove.
***
“Yeah. Think we should go take a look at it?”
That was the obvious solution. A bigger place that would house them all, maybe with a bit of room to expand just in case Kara was pregnant, or for a future when Steve and Veronica settled their relationship and wanted to take that next step, or whatever eventuality might happen. The place down the road was definitely empty, and probably pretty affordable. If not that place, then another one. Somewhere that would be big enough to accommodate their suddenly expanded family.
***
Bucky winced. "It was meant to be your wedding present. I was going to tell everyone over breakfast," he admitted. He set the dough off to the side, covered in a towel, and went to the manila folder on the counter. Wordlessly, he handed it to Steve.
Inside was the deed to the house down the street, signed over in Bucky's name. He'd worked with the bank to make it happen, but he'd done it so that he could provide for his family. There were enough of them that the extra space was warranted, and it was set up nicely. He and Kara could have their own bathroom.
***
Frowning, Steve pulled out the papers, looked them over. “You bought it.”
He’d just bought it. Steve wasn’t surprised, exactly, but a house was a lot bigger than a motorcycle or anything else Bucky had just gone ahead and gotten. This was big, this involved all of them. It could have done with some conversation. But it was done, one less thing to worry about.
“Wish you’d let the rest of us in on that, pal,” he said, but he was smiling. “Let me talk to the girls about it. At least we’ll be able to sort where we’re all living out soon enough.”
He didn’t expect it was going to go over particularly well, but Veronica would probably be reasonable about it. Molly was the real concern. There was a lot of very sudden changes going on for a kid.
***
"We had talked about it," Bucky defended halfheartedly. He knew it didn't really count, but at least Steve wasn't mad. He went to the fridge to get something to eat, since his stomach rumbling told him he needed to sooner rather than later.
"We don't have to move in right away. I didn't sell this place or anything," he assured Steve. "We can...figure it out as we go." Bucky knew Molly would need time, and they'd need to all talk it out together. "And if they decide they don't want to move, that it'd be easier to just build more onto this place, that's fine too. We can sell the place or something." As long as they were together, that was what mattered.
"You want a sandwich?"
***
Selling the house technically under Steve’s name would be hard, though, he supposed had been pretty easy to transfer it into his name after Skye had gone home, so maybe not. Either way, he was glad there was some sort of buffer.
“We’ll figure it out. I appreciate you giving us the option.” A house was one hell of a wedding present, but leave it to Bucky to go big. “Let me help.”
With sandwiches. Steve always wanted a sandwich. And then, once they ate, he could figure out a few things.
***
Bucky never did anything small or halfway anymore. There was no point in his mind, since any day they could be ripped apart or something could mess with them the way it had this past week. He took all the information available to him and made the best decision he could with the resources he had available. He and Kara had made progress in their relationship by leaps and bounds, Steve and V had gotten married, and Molly and Summer got along as well as two teenage girls could. A house was tacit approval of all those things, his way of assuring that at the end of the day, he and Steve would be together even with their respective family units.
At Steve's request to let him help, Bucky simply stepped aside to make room. They'd always worked well together in whatever it was they were trying to accomplish, even if it was as simple as making a sandwich.
"This wasn't the worst thing that could have happened," he decided, but he said it tentatively enough that he almost needed Steve's affirmation. "The dome. It does things. But it- turned out okay."
***
These days, at least where his personal life was concerned, Steve was exactly the opposite. He tended to play it safe, take things slow. It wasn’t just him who was at risk if he made the wrong choices, after all. These days, it was Bucky who took the leaps without thinking and dealt with the consequences later.
It was a look Steve liked on him.
“No, you’re right,” he agreed. “It’s not all bad.” He had a wife, still felt a little giddy about that, though it was unlikely anyone but Bucky would be able to read the glee behind the control he kept on his expression. His best pal had his girl, might very well have a baby on the way. It was pretty good. “I would’ve liked if we could come to things on our own terms,” he’d have liked to have been in his right mind when he said his vows, he’d have liked if anyone had been ready for the situation they’d woken up in, but there were worse ways to be. “As long as you’re happy.”
***
Bucky could see the truth that Steve was happy. He'd made the right call in not raising a stink about it. With the way the two of them had been going - slower than even he and Kara in some ways - he wasn't so sure Steve would pop the question before the dome took either of them away. It would be better this way, even if there were still some hurdles ahead of them.
Bucky believed that about himself and Kara, too. There was a part of him that was hesitant to be physically intimate with her until they found out one way or another, but he was relieved that he could just remember telling her, instead of ripping his wounds open like that. He felt more at peace now, baby notwithstanding. It showed.
"As long as we're both happy," he corrected with a grin. And they were, so that was that.