WHO: Steve Rogers (MCU) and Bucky Barnes (PH) WHEN: May 26 WHERE: Avengers Housing WHAT: They have a nice, normal conversation for once in their damn lives. WARNINGS: none STATUS: gdoc, finished!
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Steve called Bucky not too long ago. He knew His Bucky was teaching school. Steve himself had just got out of portal guard duty and noticed his bike making a certain strange sound. He could have called Tony, but he noticed Tony and himself getting more and more dramatic around each other. So Bucky it was. Steve felt comfortable enough with this version of Bucky, even after months of telling him he was in love with him. The feeling subsided. It was still there, but only in the tiniest increment. Steve hoped familiarity with a new, shiny Bucky who was in a relationship with a Steve was helping wear down those feelings.
So there he was, in the driveway of the Avengers house, hands covered in grease, crouched on the ground. He had called Bucky twenty minutes earlier and then started poking around the parts of the engine. He never learned to fix vehicles, just drive them. Maybe it was time he learned.
Given that Bucky had pretty much been the all purpose handyman of their friendship growing up, he wasn’t at all surprised to get the call from Steve when the engine of his motorcycle had started to act up. So he had dug around in his garage for his toolbox - a beat up metal box that had princess stickers on it courtesy of his Steve’s adopted kid - Molly Hayes - and got in the car to drive over to the compound.
He wasn’t over there a lot, at first out of respect to the other Bucky to give him space. Then when the other Bucky had moved out, it had just become habit not to really go there unless he had been explicitly invited. He didn’t consider himself an Avenger, especially since that was basically Tony’s thing, so he didn’t feel like he belonged there. But whenever a friend would call him over, he had no problem visiting.
Arriving about twenty minutes after he had received Steve’s call, he arrived at the compound. Driving up the driveway and parking near the garage, he hopped out of the SUV and went around back to get his toolbox. Approaching Steve, he said, “Get away from that before you break it further, Rogers.”
Steve had just been poking around, tightening things with his hands (which is how he got all messy) when Bucky rolled up. Steve went from a crouching position to sitting flat on his ass in front of the bike. “Took you long enough,” he let slip before falling back onto the concrete.
“I’m not going to break it further. It’s just making a squealing noise when I turn. Do you know what that could be? I really should have took the time to read a manual at some point.” He would have called Tony, but he wasn’t really sure what he and Tony were doing. Some sort of tug of war.
“Might be as easy as greasing the neck or the wheel bearings,” Bucky said, crouching down next to where Steve was sitting in front of the bike. Examining it, the quick visual inspection didn’t reveal anything obviously wrong, but that didn’t mean Steve was just imaging the issue. “Can I take it for a quick spin? See if I hear what you’re hearing?” He asked, turning his head slightly so he could look at his friend.
The awkwardness of Steve’s confession from months ago had finally died down to the point where Bucky didn’t really feel strange and uncomfortable about being this close to Steve anymore. It was a relief, considering he had missed his best friend and their friendship, that they could hang out like this again.
Steve went to wipe his hands on his pants and stopped himself, a little grin on his face. Ah ha! When Bucky asked to take it out, he pulled a set of keys out of his back pocket. They were tossed to Bucky. “Around the block, don’t pull any prank shit.”
He felt as if he acted normal around Bucky now. A combination of moving on and shoving those emotions down-- a little of both, had worked well. He only saw his best friend now, and he was happy he had at least that.
Catching the keys one handed, he grinned and stood up again. “That only makes me want to do something like steal your bike.” It was an empty threat, Steve could easily get it back, but it didn’t stop him from considering driving away.
Getting on the bike, he backpedaled it back a bit to clear the mess of tools and then slotted the keys into the ignition. “See you in a few,” he called out over the roar of the engine. Then he was off down the driveway and, as promised, around the block.
When he eventually came back, he had a thoughtful look on his face. “I think it might be your brake pads, actually. I can pick some up local, easy fix really. Want me to do it now or do you want to go grab something to eat and I’ll fix it later?” It was nice, just to have this easiness back. Bucky didn’t question when it came from, was only thankful for it.
Steve stood in the driveway like a lost duckling, pacing in a confused circle. Bucky came back up the driveway and he stood aside. When Bucky explained it to him, he nodded and sighed, “Yeah, let’s deal with it later. I’m starving.” But what was new?
The tension between them was nearly tangible and now it felt light and easy. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wanted to be close to him. But his common sense told him for that to be possible, it had to be a certain kind of closeness.
“Want to ride with me?” Bucky asked, walking the bike into the garage and then going back to get his tools to set in there as well. He figured he could come back later that day and fix it up properly then. No need to carry his tools around.
“I’ll even let you pick the place.” He shot Steve a look. “Though anything except for JJ’s.” He still didn’t get the hype, but maybe because he was used to a higher caliber of pancakey deliciousness.
Steve shrugged when he was asked to ride with Bucky, feeling that he could probably handle that. When JJ’s was brought up, Steve quickly put his hands up in defense, “I would never suggest JJ’s to you, Buck.”
He went into the garage and washed his hands in a sink meant for rinsing your clothes before washing them, the kind with a big basin. The faucet spritzed to life and Steve tried to scrub the oil off his hands without any soap. “What about that Thai place?”
It was pleasant, having such a dull and mundane conversation with Steve like this. It was nice to just talk to him while the world wasn't ending around them and their words weren't heavy with longing for something else, something more.
Yes, Bucky missed knowing what hugging Steve from behind felt like, what kind of noises he made when they were necking like teenagers, but now he could stare at this Steve while he cleaned himself up and not feel that confusing set of feelings that came from misplacing his love for his version of Steve for this one. Now, he could look at this Steve and see him for who he really was to him - his best friend, the man he would go to the end of the line for, the brother he had grown up with.
It was a freeing feeling and, while he knew that this Steve had his own set of complicated feelings to deal with when it came to him, he didn't feel any pressure for anything more. Just this - a happy existence between them, their friendship back. “Thai sounds good,” Bucky said, smiling at Steve's back while he wandered around the garage a little. “You do anything exciting lately? Anything new in the life of Steve Rogers?”
Steve glanced over at Bucky and gave him a Are-You-Stupid look. “Nothing new here. Ah-- except, I’ve been talking to Tony more.” He reached for a clean cloth and made a point of wiping down each finger. Oil was still sticking to him, he’d have to deal with it.
“Been trying to put the thoughts of Thanos behind me-- Sorry to bring it up. It’s just always on my mind. Haven’t had any nightmares, at least. So he’s not following me around completely.” He got silent after that, realizing he shouldn’t have brought it up. He and Bucky were having a normal conversation. A nice, normal conversation. Nothing too intense or emotional. Steve was sick of intense and emotional. He just wanted to go back to being the butt of everyone’s jokes when it came to modern conveniences.
He looked at Bucky and could feel a slight pull in his brain, but it was dull. Maybe he really could get over this. Steve knew he always had a deeper feeling for Bucky in his heart, and it wasn’t until this Bucky came along, talking about being in a relationship with Steve that Steve thought it was possible. Steve fell in love with people with whom he had an emotional connection to. So of course Bucky would be there. Peggy was another-- but their lives had diverged so much since they kissed, it would be impossible to get that connection back.
“Hey, I’m glad. I’m sorry I was the cause of your rift, but hopefully you two can work it out,” Bucky said, throwing a rag at Steve’s head when he gave him that look. He was trying to have a normal conversation, Steve could shove that look somewhere else.
“I’ve been in the ignore it and it will go away camp when it comes to Thanos. Trying to get my life back on track here is hard enough. I don’t want to deal with any extra bullshit like probably being dead back home,” Bucky shrugged, leaning against Steve’s bike while he waited for Steve to finish up. “I rather worry about how I accidentally became a cat granddad or whether I left the stove top on or not.”
There was a ghost of a smile on Steve’s face as the towel hit him. He picked it up off the floor. “Don’t worry about me and Tony, we’ve always had a tense relationship. I was friends with Howard.” He let the name hang in the air for a moment, remembering that his friend was murdered by Bucky. But he knew in his heart of hearts that Bucky would have never done such a thing without being completely brainwashed.
“Then let’s ignore it.” He shrugged and walked out of the garage out to Bucky’s car. “You ready, old man?”
He could feel the air change with the way Steve reacted to bringing up Howard and he shifted, looking away. The guilt over Howard’s and Maria’s deaths would never fade, which is why he was perfectly willing to let Tony pummel him to death if that’s what the man wanted. He had only fought back back home because Steve had been about to get killed over it and that was something he couldn’t have on his hands. But here? Where they would hold Steve back if he told them to, he would let Tony do what he wanted with him.
The problem there was that Tony had no idea how to deal with him. And so their status remained in limbo, the arm hanging off Bucky’s left shoulder a testament to the strange truce they had. “Yeah, let’s go,” he said, happy to change the topic, getting into the SUV after Steve.