Who: Steve Rogers | Bucky Barnes What: Steve has a surprise for Bucky When: Backdated to just before Valentine’s day Where: Mainly their flat in Ravenmoore Warnings: If open affection between two blokes is warning worthy, you’re in the wrong game lol Status: Complete
Steve couldn’t wait for Bucky to see his present. He was a little early for St. Valentine’s, he supposed, but it wasn’t like they cared about that kind of thing. Life was unpredictable, and also direwolf availability had been tricky. He had lucked out, that the family who had intended to take the pups had not managed to get three of them to bond with any of the children. Steve had made the hours long trek and crossed a border going there. He followed instructions and brought a t-shirt that smelled like Bucky, “fresh” from the hamper, to see if the cub approved.
Dogs were very intelligent animals. This Steve knew. But the stunning black direwolf of the litter had looked over at him the moment Steve was brought into the yard where he was playing with his brothers, and when Steve pulled out Bucky’s shirt from the small rucksack he had carried it in, the animal had padded over with clear interest. The adorably furry creature with the huge paws had nosed Bucky’s shirt thoroughly, then Steve’s wrist. He huffed a few not quite barks at Steve and wagged his tail, and the ladies of the house had nodded and smiled at each other.
Steve would let Bucky pick the name, of course. It was his present, after all. But he nicknamed the cub Paws in his head all the same, because those mittens were huge for such a tiny thing. Steve was immediately in love.
So after getting back to Ravenmoore, feeding and watering the little ruffian [Steve would have to get that car steamed cleaned before he returned it], Steve drove home and used all of his stealth skills to bring the cub upstairs without alerting his best friend to the fact.
“Buck? Are you home?” Steve hoped he was. “Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you!”
--
Two years ago, Bucky wouldn’t have thought he’d have the capability of feeling like this, feeling this happy. He wouldn’t have thought that he would be somewhere that would be truly safe, that he would feel like he wasn’t Public Enemy Number 1, that he could actually live as himself rather than an ex-pawn of Hydra. Having Steve back in his life, recovering in Wakanda, it helped him so much but being here in Preya was healing him in ways that Wakanda and Steve couldn’t.
That wasn’t to say Steve wasn’t a big part of it. Steve Rogers saved his life, basically. For all the times that Steve would have thought he couldn’t go on without his best friend, Bucky thought the same thing. He thought it every time since he got his mind back from Hydra that he didn’t deserve someone like Steve, he didn’t deserve redemption. As it was, when Bucky was recuperating in Wakanda, if Sam or Steve or Natasha or T’Challa or anyone else had said that he needed to go back to America and face trial and imprisonment for what he’d done, he’d willingly do it. There were things that he’d done while he was under Hydra’s control that he’d have to live with for the rest of his life. He remembered very moment of it.
And yet Steve still loved him. And yet the people of Preya (aside from Tony and that young girl and probably a few others he hadn’t had the opportunity to meet yet) were willing to give him a second chance here. He appreciated it so much and wanted to do whatever he could to return the favour.
Especially to Steve. Steve who loved him, Steve who was there for him always, Steve who never gave up on him even when he’d given up on himself.
Bucky sighed softly, his hair in a bun, working over the kitchen counter. He was making banana muffins, as he couldn’t very well have plums all the damn time. Having just pulled them out of the oven, he set them on the tray to cool. Bucky then went over to turn off the equipment. He didn’t instantly hear Steve calling as he was hooked up and listening to music, but when he heard the door shut he felt the vibrations against the floor and pulled out his earpiece.
“Hey baby,” he smiled, taking off his gloves and apron and putting them up against the door handle to the cupboard. Hearing Steve ask him to close his eyes, Bucky arched a brow slightly, smirking. “Surprises? Really?”
But he did as Steve wanted, closing his eyes and making his way to the kitchen doorway so Steve could see him standing there. He really looked quite adorable, with a bit of flour still on his cheek and even though his hair was still tied up, it was a little dishevelled and half-falling out of the bun.
Bucky waited, eyes closed, to see what Steve had in store. He was grinning already.
--
Steve would have wanted to make more of it, drawing out the surprise for as long as he could, but seeing as the direwolf puppy had already regaled him with the songs of his people a few times during his long drive back to Ravenmoore, he didn’t think the cub was in the mood to wait. He was grinning like a little kid even before Bucky showed up at the kitchen door.
The sight of Bucky with his hair up and a spot of flour on his face, looking so domestic and content, took his breath away. His grin died down to a soft smile as he felt his heart fill to bursting. He would do anything to keep this dream alive forever, if that’s what it was.
He walked over and embraced Bucky, pecking a soft kiss to his lips. “No peeking,” he muttered softly before leading Bucky to sit on the couch. He couldn’t help himself, Bucky looked so adorable that he lay a loud smooch on his cheek. “No peeking!” he said again. “I’ll be right back.”
Steve ran out to where the cub waited, giving him the stinkeye. Clearly such a free creature hated being in a kennel, no matter how spacious, but the cub was too curious and would have wandered away otherwise. First thing on the shopping list was a collar and leash. Paws had already chewed through the one Steve had gotten just that morning. So he brought the big kennel inside and closed the door. He then freed the furry little beast, who promptly made a beeline to the couch. Steve chased him there, grinning, and lifted him up. “Do you trust me?” he said out loud for Bucky to hear. He also didn’t want to startle the trained operative with the hairtrigger reflexes with what might well be some furry monster, so he figured the leading question would minimize the sense of potential threat.
It wouldn’t make for a very happy surprise if the cub ended up flying out the balcony on his first day.
Without further ado, a grinning Steve gently set the pup down on Bucky’s lap, who immediately scented the man with an excited expression on his face, followed by much huffing and happy licking.
--
Bucky couldn’t help but laugh slightly at Steve when he said not to peek. The urge to peek was strong, he didn’t know what Steve was up to, he felt mischievous and almost wanted to open his eyes just to screw with him. But he kept his eyes closed, knowing that whatever Steve had planned it would be good.
The kiss to the lips and cheek only made him more excited to know what was happening, sitting back on the couch once he’d been led there. He didn’t really need Steve guiding him there, he remembered everything, he’d always had good spatial awareness and there had been so many times he’d just stared at everything, every piece of furniture no matter how small, just taking it all in, how lucky he was.
Practically bursting with excitement, Bucky bit his lower lip slightly, moving to undo the bun in his hair and pushing it out of his face so that it wouldn’t get in the way when he did get to open his eyes. “Course I trust you, Steve,” he would have rolled his eyes if they’d been open at that, so he just followed up with a gentle scoff. There was nobody else in the world, in the entire universe that he trusted more than Steve.
He hadn’t known what to expect and he certainly didn’t expect to notice something fluffy and squirming being placed into his lap. He opened his eyes with a start before letting out a gasp.
“Oh my God,” he said with a gentle voice, the surprise on his face being swiftly replaced with a joyful expression, something he hadn’t truly mustered up since he was kid. He huffed out a laugh, scratching gently behind the pup’s ears and petting it. He felt like he had a lump in his throat, lost for words, he took in a shaky breath and looked up at Steve as he let the puppy lick him.
“Steve, I--” Bucky let out another surprised laugh, grinning so wide it almost hurt, “Where’d you find this adorable little thing? Hey, you,” Bucky looked down and pulled him a little closer into a gentle hug, before withdrawing so the puppy could continue to squirm around. “I love it. I love this! Oh my God.” He pulled Steve in for a grateful kiss, which was only interrupted by the pup whining for attention. Bucky let out a laugh and broke away, scratching the pup behind the ears again.
--
The expression of pure, unbridled joy on Bucky’s face made the hours long trip back and forth, the howling, and everything else more than worth it. Steve’s heart felt so full that he teared up. If he could dedicate every single moment of the rest of his life to putting that expression and that smile on Bucky’s face, he gladly would. “You like him? He sure seems to like you,” he replied, an answering grin on his face.
He gladly accepted the kiss, and laughed with Bucky when their new friend demanded Bucky’s attention. Steve knelt in front of them, getting his face licked too for his trouble, but there was no doubt Bucky was the pup’s favorite. He grinned at the excited little beast and took in the gladdening sight of a happy Bucky. The man had been through so much darkness, but this proved what Steve had known all along. There was still good in Bucky. There was still a man in there with the capacity for joy, with the need for comfort and closeness and family.
“The good news is we can keep him. The bad news is we’re gonna have to move,” Steve said with a slightly guilty grin. “Look at those big boy paws! He’s gonna grow a lot, so we’re gonna need a place with a yard. A big yard.” He gave Bucky his best puppy eyes. “Sorry?” he added, when clearly he wasn’t sorry at all.
Steve rubbed Bucky’s thigh with one hand and petted their new pride and joy with another. “So, what are we going to call him?”
--
“I love him. I think you might have some competition.” Bucky teased, grinning. He laughed as the pup licked Steve’s face, feeling like his heart might explode out of his chest from pure happiness and delight. He also felt strangely calm too, he always felt calm when Steve was here sure but with the dog it was like he was just unflappable, like he had been before any of anything had ever happened not just him but to both of them.
“So, we’ll move,” Bucky shrugged. There were plenty of dog-friendly places in Ravenmoore to go. “Yeah he’s gonna get real big and beefy and fluffy. Like his dads.” He chuckled. “Why the hell are you apologising? Geeze.” He gave Steve a gentle smack on the knee for that.
Bucky leaned back slightly onto the couch and looked down at the dog, thinking over Steve’s question. As he thought, his smile started to fade and a memory started to come back to him. One of Hydra’s goons, maybe Rumlow, telling him that there was no way that anyone would save him, no chance of redemption, that he was…
Suddenly, Bucky started laughing. He was snorting at first before it started shaking with laughter that started quiet and then got loud and then quiet again until he was just shaking with it. “Oh man. That’s perfect. The perfect name. You’re gonna kick my ass for this but.”
He leaned forward to pat the dog gently, letting him lick his hand. “FUBAR. You know. Like the acronym,” as he smiled softly down at FUBAR, he felt like his heart was soaring. “Fucked up beyond all repair, right? Course, the fact that I’ve got you and this proves it’s wrong. But still. Rumlow said it to me a while back, before they put me back under. That there was no chance of anything, redemption, happiness, a light at the end of the tunnel, just their rhetoric and bullshit.”
Bucky looked up at Steve, eyes brimming with happy tears. “But this is sticking it to him. To all of them. Proving them all wrong. You get it, right? Plus, I’m sure you’ve got your personal nickname for him anyway. And if it makes you feel better we can call him Foobs or Fooby or whatever.” He smiled.
--
Steve’s heart ached, seeing Bucky so excited about his puppy, so carefree. Like he used to be. The proverbial lump formed in his throat, so thick that it hurt to swallow. But when Bucky told him the name and the reason behind it, he couldn’t stop two fat tears from rolling down his cheeks. He could kill Rumlow with his bare hands for what he did to his Bucky. He could kill each and every one of them.
In fact, if Lang’s plan for time travel had worked to defeat Thanos, Steve’s overactive brain was already hatching a plan to do just that, to travel back and either stop Bucky getting hurt in the first place, or killing every person who had ever caused him pain. To be fair, Steve had been driven to near insanity with grief at the time. Nobody knew it, he did his best to hide it, but Steve had been borderline suicidal, only his relentless drive to fix things stopping him from acting upon it until he had exhausted every other possibility to bring Bucky and all the others back.
He let out a shaky laugh, a part of him aware that he had been saved from a much darker path by coming here. “Fubar is perfect, Buck. He’s perfect, as are you, my love.” His face got very red, and his eyes darted left and right guiltily before he spat out, “Fuck Rumlow. Fuck them all. You’re here, I’m here, and I love you, Bucky Barnes. You are perfect to me, just the way you are.” He was even shaking a little with all the pent up outrage and fierce protectiveness he felt for Bucky.
Fubar sensed it, how could he not? So the pup hopped up and down a few times between them, huffing and doggy talking at Steve, even letting out a little bark-howl of agreement that broke the tension. Steve wiped his tears away and came up to sit next to Bucky, half draped over his friend to pet the furry beast in his lap.
“It’s perfect, Buck. Fubar is perfect,” he said, leaning his head against the crook of Bucky’s neck. He grinned. “I’ll probably still call him Paws sometimes. Been calling him that in my head all day.”
Steve felt all the tension drain from his body as he immersed himself in the beauty of this moment. “I’m glad you like him. I knew you would. Love seeing you laugh. Promise I won’t even get jealous. I love you enough to share you with Fubar,” he finished in a deadpan. Then he snorted out a few chuckles.
“Beefy and fluffy like his dads, huh?” he asked rhetorically, playfully tickling Bucky’s muscled belly and side.
--
Bucky was glad, so glad that Steve after all that they had both been through remembered Bucky’s crass humour and understood it, even though he rolled his eyes. Steve had always been the one who had been the moral compass, more about the pure values, the American way and all that stuff, even before he became Captain America. Course, back when it was just the two of them they both had their own humour and they could both let loose and be as crude and hilarious as they wanted around each other and they both understood it. But Bucky still remembered making the horrible dirty jokes that made Steve blush and then later on after Steve became Captain Spangled he would do the opposite to Bucky and try and make him blush in return. It was fun times.
“Hey, language,” he teased slightly, before his smile faded a little and he kissed him gently, pulling him close enough to give him a proper kiss. “I know, baby, it’s okay. I love you too, and I’m not going anywhere.” He took Steve’s hand with his own non-metal one, squeezing it hard enough to almost hurt and bringing his hand up to kiss the knuckles. When Steve mentioned sharing him with Fubar, Bucky grinned, chuckling as well.
“Yep. Hey. Don’t.” Bucky laughed, squirming just slightly, slapping him gently with his metal arm. “You dick.” Fubar let out a little yelp at the squirming and wriggled out of Bucky’s lap onto the ground, sniffing around the room. Bucky took quick advantage of the dog not being on his lap to pull Steve fully into his lap, kissing him deeply.
Bucky didn’t need special mind reading powers or anything to know what Steve was thinking. They’d been friends since childhood, they were close as brothers, closer than they’d ever imagined. Bucky knew the anger that Steve would have felt, the grief, the loss with not having him there, because he knew what would have happened if Thanos had snapped his fingers and if it had been Steve that had gone. He knew he would have broken in the same way that Steve had broken, he would have done anything, moved mountains, gathered the strongest of weapons, sold his damn soul if he could have to bring Steve back. Hell, if he had to he would have given his life for it.
But as he broke away from Steve with a smile, he wound his arms tightly around Steve’s waist and let out another happy sigh, pressing his forehead lightly against Steve and giving him another one of those little eskimo kisses like they had when they’d first reunited.
“I love you so much.” he practically breathed.
--
Steve gladly let Bucky manhandle him however he saw fit. He purred into the kiss, getting all pushy and predatory as he kissed Bucky back. Bucky wanting him back made him feel so damn sexy that he didn’t know what to do with himself, but his body surely knew what it wanted, groping and pawing at his man possessively as the hunger was written all over his face. This was certainly a side of Captain America nobody ever saw. Nostrils flared, licking his lips, horny Steve was truly a sight to see. And he loved just making out with Bucky for hours on end. There was rarely an urgency to get to the finish line with Steve. Well, maybe except for that first night or two, when it was all so new and the man was still rather epically pent up.
He truly hoped it wouldn’t come to that, because Steve was fairly sure he would gladly break the world in two if anything tried to come between him and Bucky again. It scared him how ruthless he was capable of being when he even thought about it. Thanos had broken him in more ways than one, he was still realizing. For now, he could not feel happier, so he hung on to that and pushed aside those dark thoughts. Hopefully he’d never have to find out what he might do to save his love. Right now, seeing Bucky smile and finally look like his Bucky, the one he remembered, filled his heart to capacity.
“Definitely never getting tired of hearing that,” he murmured, sweetly kissing Bucky’s cheek.
The magical moment lasted a few more seconds, right up until Fubar decided he was being neglected and decided nosing and sniffing at Steve’s crotch was the thing to do. Steve jumped a foot in the air and curled his leg over himself to cover his privates with his thigh. He then exploded into laughter, hiding his blushing face by burying it against Bucky’s wide chest. “Your direwolf is molesting me, Buck. Do something!” he guffawed, still laughing.
--
There was no way in Hell that Bucky was ever going to get over the fact that this was actually happening, that he and Steve were finally a thing. This was something he’d wanted for years, since he was a kid, he’d wanted this in some way or form for so long but back then it wasn’t something he could really act on, and of course life had gotten in the way. But now they had the rest of their lives to make up for it so he wasn’t planning on wasting any time at all, no way. Bucky’s kisses were just as desperate, almost to the point of neediness. It was definitely an advantage that the two of them had so much stamina all the time so they could just make out for hours on end, but sometimes it could be a disadvantage and they’d probably have to find more creative ways to bring each other off. The thought of it made Bucky grin slightly.
This place… Bucky wasn’t sure if it was Wakanda or Preya that had healed him more, then again maybe Steve Rogers had healed him more than both of them put together. Maybe seeing Steve again, having Steve in his arms, hearing Steve say he loved him and being able to kiss and hold him like this, just to be with him like this, it made him feel like he wasn’t in danger of falling apart, just like he had been during the snap. He hated how he remembered that, remembered falling apart. But really, being brought back from that was more of a wake up call than being woken up from cryogenesis. The fact that he remembered what happened gave him reason to keep going, gave him fight, gave him more resolve.
Bucky was about to retort with something sweet, corny and most likely inappropriate, before Fubar decided to join in on the action. Bucky started to laugh then, hair falling in front of his eyes as he threw his head back. He shook his head slightly to try and dislodge the wayward strands.
“Hey, Fooby, no,” he said gently, picking up the pup and giving it a little tickle behind the ears. “I think our moment just ended, Rogers.” Bucky gave Steve a gentle kiss on the head before he smiled down at the pup. “You hungry?” The puppy let out a needy whine that made Bucky laugh again. “He sounded just like you then!” he grinned smugly at his boyfriend, giving him a teasing poke in the side. “What do we feed him?”
--
Steve felt warmth blossom in his chest when he felt Bucky kiss his hair. He closed his eyes to enjoy the moment and turned his face to lay a kiss over Bucky’s heart before looking up at the beautiful sight of a happy Bucky playing with his pup. Yeah. Definitely worth the long trip a thousand times. He reached up to scratch and pat Fubar’s furry sides, grinning like a loon.
He chuckled at the whine. “Oh, ho, ho! Don’t believe the lies. I just fed him before bringing him home, babe.” He lay his head on Bucky’s shoulder, feeling content. “He eats mass quantities of meat. At the rate I’m told he grows, he’ll surely eat us out of house and home soon, but I couldn’t resist that little face!”
“Speaking of, I left some supplies in the car so I could surprise you. Let me go get them.” Fubar turned his puppy snout and licked Steve’s face with a soft woof. Steve laughed and ruffled Fubar’s scruff. He then squeezed Bucky’s thigh before getting up from the couch. “Yes, the rest of the meat is downstairs too. I’ll go get it before it spoils. Be right back. Don’t let him eat all the furniture while I’m gone,” he finished with a wink.
--
It made sense after all, a wolf pup having meat. Perhaps if Bucky had thought about it, he would have occurred to him, but he was so wrapped up in the moment, with Steve and how happy he was with this perfect family-- because they were right now a family, the three of them. Him, Steve and their fluffy little baby.
“Awesome,” Bucky laughed as well when Fubar licked Steve’s face, grinning as he watched his boyfriend get up and of course enjoying the view as he walked away from him. “Will do, Captain!” He called after him happily.
While Steve was gone, Bucky stood up and nestled Fubar in his arms, the puppy happily leaning in the crook of his metal arm snugly, nuzzling into the warmth of his chest. Even though he knew they had to move due to their new tenant, Bucky still wanted to show Fubar some of the things they had in the apartment.
He showed some of their old photos, some of their old war medals, and he was laughing as Fubar licked his face when he heard Steve come up again.
“He’s trying to eat me!”
--
Steve had a spring to his step as he went downstairs to the car and came back up with the puppy’s supplies. He could hear the love and glee in Bucky’s voice even as he claimed the little beast was trying to eat him. Bucky. His Bucky. So beautiful and carefree with their little furry love in his arms. Because, yes, Steve was already in love with the cuddly direwolf pup.
“Hey, now! That’s my job, mister,” he called out, making himself blush.
He even tried to put a frown on his face as he replied, but he couldn’t stop grinning at the picture Fubar and Bucky made.
Steve made short work of filling up the fridge and cupboards, not too worried about what went where, since they clearly would be moving soon. He wasn’t concerned about that either, funds wise. During the course of finding out more about his preceding appearances in Preya, and with a little digging, he found that at least one of the previous versions of himself had left a comfortable sum of money in his name. Nobody had any issue at the ministry with him accessing his own money once his identity was confirmed. They would be all right. At the very least they could afford to move and feed themselves and their cub.
He tracked his two loves down, the new one and the old, and hugged them, kissing Bucky’s lips before pecking a kiss on Fubar’s little head. “I love you, Sergeant Barnes.”
--
Bucky practically snorted with laughter at Steve’s outburst, he could almost hear Steve’s blush. He knew Steve though, as much as he blushed, he could be as funny and crude as he was, and worse sometimes. If he got tipsy enough, or if Bucky goaded him enough…
Fubar actually did heel a bit when Steve yelled out though, and Bucky couldn’t help but smile at that, scratching the pup behind the ears and letting him rest in his arms. He was still squirming around obviously still hungry, but he was a little less restless than he had been earlier.
When Steve found them, Bucky kissed him back happily, leaning his head against Steve’s and sighing happily. “Love you too, Rogers.” He kissed Steve’s forehead lightly before looking down at Fubar with a soft huff of laughter. “He’s going to eat my shirt if we don’t feed him soon.”
--
“Oh, dear. Maybe you should take your shirt off. You know, so Fubar won’t eat it,” Steve replied, his voice dropping to a husky drawl. His lips pursed into a saucy smirk as he hugged his boys, feeling thoroughly content with his new life. He winked at Bucky and nuzzled the top of the direwolf’s head before gesturing with his head towards the kitchen. Good thing he hadn’t skimped on the groceries on the way home. Fubar’s stomach was apparently a bottomless barrel wrapped in an adorable fuzzy pelt.
“All right, let’s fix mister Paws here a snack, then. We can look at home listings once he settles down a bit.”