Archive of Our Own ^beta

-][KEEP-AWAY][-

                        " James. Is it safe. "

                                   Silence. Almost. The rush of people murmuring behind and in front of him.

                                                The dizziness of searching for those eyes. For confirmation.

                                            The burn of the weight still making his left arm sizzle. Pop, even.

                                                        He could still taste metal vapor in his mouth.

                                                             Wasn't sure if he could open that hand.

                                                                     Thumb at one temple. The grip across his forehead.

                                                                             Like a crown of stretched fingers. Around what's his.

 

                                                                                                                                             " James. Is it, safe. "

 

                                                                                                   There. Steel blue eyes. Bits of pale green.

                          Raven's wings in his hair and lashes.                         

There he is. Swallow the vapor back. Have to answer.

                                                                  " Close.. close call. But... "

-{ROGERS}-

    Angry didn't cover it, pushing his way through the rushing incoming confusion of Wakandans, mages and team-mates.

          Livid? Seeing red?

       Maybe. Pretty damned close, in truth.

  Tall as he was, he was easy to pick out. More steady, unaffected purpose to the swift motion of his dark head through the mass of people; knowing where he was going while the mass of those evacuating were shoveled in one portal after another after another; some mid-motion and into further confusion of suddenly being elsewhere. Some just suddenly brought from their former, almost still positions at the back lines, whether that meant chunks of their surroundings came with them or not. Consoles and transports cut in half. Some, had clearly been mid-combat and brought bodies with them. Here and there, a few Chitauri were put down along the miles stretch of whatever underground facility they were now in.

     For Steve Rogers though; the place didn't matter as much as the fact that they were there: and they had, were leaving people behind.

              But especially, that Loki had personally made the call, and the point; of purposely leaving Bucky behind.

                      ..was that Steve's fault? The icy look he'd gotten. Did he know how close they were now, versus then?

                                 Is he, was he; as angry? Still hurting after the lies Rogers had spat at him in twenty thirteen?

  Watching and listening to it happen right in front of him; just feet from where he himself had been in the matter of maybe a minute; a minute and a half? Was still hot in his head and frozen in his gut: pulling Steve's hard pace right for that high-pulled wolf's tail where he could see him moving through the growing masses ahead of him as portal after portal after portal opened and closed, again and again and again. He could see others too, in his peripherals. Thor being his height was one of the obvious ones.

       That " LOKI! " was in his booming tones over the cacophony wasn't that surprising as a result. That it didn't stop or even pause Lo on his way at this stage wasn't either. Through the messy, mass of moving people, he could make out a series of controls now though; a small platform where that guy, Wong himself was snapping orders and coordination of the retreat through smaller portals to his people likely still on the battlefield they were retreating from. Still in Wakanda. Still on the plains or in the wood.

            Like Bucky Barnes.

     " Hey! Wounded here! " was Natasha's voice, the briefest catch to his own steps: but not for long as that did pause the dark head he was chasing: long enough to turn those icy, silvery blue eyes he knew so well over the rushing movement of heads a few inches or shorter than that below his; focused past Steve, on her. " Where do I take them? "

             " Look for the red armbands and drones! Those will see you to medical. Announcements will be properly synchronized soon; get to command as soon as possible Natasha! " was less shouted and more projected with a hard point in the direction of that platform Wong was on over the din from his silken, no-nonsense tones just seconds before a what equated to a P.A. started relaying that and more through those drones: better directing the insane amount of people flooding what looked at the moment like a huge series of catwalks. The view of the night horizon outside of the grey-white cliffs the place was built into otherwise obscured by near constant portals. Drones acting as guides: their lights color coded as they buzzed at a far calmer pace well over all their heads.

        Steve ended up following one very briefly with his eyes on it's way to one of the portal sets bringing the incoming retreat of civilian and military personnel both from multiple angles; catching the view as a one of the largest portals blinked closed and then spun to life again aimed at another location. It wasn't where that portal led, that had stopped him. It was what he had seen behind it, before it had opened again that sucked the air out of his lungs and brought him to a jolting stop right where he was. Waiting, for the next portal; because he didn't want to believe it. Didn't want to think that they would leave the plains they had been fighting on in Wakanda that far behind; leave Buck, that far behind.

          Yet, in the same stunned, shocked moments of waiting to see it again; waiting for that view blocked by the portals along what he had thought were miles of catwalks to his left: he caught the ends of cranes his head hadn't registered above even those. More 'catwalks'; walkways just like them that latched to and ended attached to ships stories above their heads. Many finished and being powered up; the equivalent of large jet fighters shaped like black arrows. More yet like them, and something.. heavier, with very clear heavy guns to match still having panels and segments being pressed and wielded in.

       In taking it in he barely heard Bruce " Steve, man... " as the portal blinked closed again: and that small just above thumbprint-sized circle in the near endless black sky he had thought was merely the expression of night-time blinked very clearly into view. A blue circle half faded into the dark star-speckled strip of sky; swirled with white, smatterings of familiar green and brown shapes. And hung there, those few seconds of dawning realization that it was real. Sound, all sound; dipped out into the ringing of that realization. Of what he was looking at, hanging just above the horizon before the next huge portal closed the view off again.

              " Oh, god.. " ...so far away..! That's Africa... " ....that's Earth! How far away did they leave them.. where is this?! " and moving again, more desperate to catch up under the shake of his own joints he had to ball his fists against in finding and locking onto that dark head again, just as Loki and Rocket both stepped up onto that platform where Wong was ahead. " Where are we?! "

                               Bruce, didn't have an answer.

={BARNES}=

=REACTIVATED HEAVY MUNITIONS FACTORY BT-04X=

=BELGIUM, MID-SEPTEMBER 1944=

     " What I have to do, Wrath; is get back to my unit.. before I'm completely cut off from them! " he could make it. Or he thought he could. " Keeping me here-- "

                                       " Is saving your life, in return for the warning kid! " came with the yank back down into the trench from behind that cut his words short; collar and shoulders first. " With the rest of those T-13s in range and throwing tank-busters around well enough to hit our trenches even on the occasional random-fire? You're already cut off. " And all right, just in time for an explosion of earth Bucky probably would have been in the middle of to shower everyone. Heads went down, arms went up around or at least, to shield them from that spray of dirt and roots. Even his, mid-yank and throw behind the big guy who had pulled him one handed. " Get a grip! Butters, get this kid secured if he won't take this seriously! "

         " Take him back to my quarters to cool off for now. " in that too-even, too controlled notation, had a choke that had nothing to do with the tightness of his own collar riding high in his throat, and everything to do with Bucky trying to swallow the immediately inappropriate thoughts that got yanked forward from the back of his mind when he met it. As usual. " ..between the dark, this misty fog that's dropped for their cover and the wood itself; they chose a good time to drive and dig in this wedge. Command won't be able to get a solid fix and re-assess until morning outside of monitoring engagements already in progress with Allied lines. If, we can keep them where they are. "

      Bad time, for his crush on Falconwrath to wave a white flag. Very.

             " Yeah and if we let them through before our bombers get here to out that factory again; we're not the only ones screwed! " Bucky shot at Wrath's shoulders with a yank back to get his collar temporarily out of Bridger's grip. " I need to get to my Captain, and my squad! " though, that got him .. it wasn't that it was a hard look.

       It was how cold it was, in part but .. especially the disappointment in those silvery blue eyes that suddenly stopped Bucky from struggling even before the words started again, though " You're in our camp now, Sergeant Barnes. A rescue, no less. And, there's no sending you back until the way is cleared, again. " helped knock some sense back into his head, too. Still prickled a bit, hearing Loke use his rank and surname instead of what had become the usual between them, under the excuse of trying to haggle out a difference in supply they could balance.

        When was the last time he'd used Bucky's rank, rather than his name? A few weeks? Two maybe..? " That means you are --now that you have made it this far to warn us and that line is in range?--my responsibility; mine. And I won't allow you to cross this idiocy in front of my company and this blockade, without the certainty you might at least survive it. "

    Blue eyes back into his binoculars, trying to scan out something in this awful, cold and wet foggy dark. " Take him to the rear as ordered, Butters. I don't have to hear the rest just yet; I can guess well enough what few orders have been given from there that would need your quiet in Barnes' presence. Montgomery won't want to open Belgium's liberation to fire from a new lot of tank-killers fresh off of squid-activated production lines. Which means: all we can do tonight, until this fog clears to make certain they don't get through; is hold what line we have. Drop him with the Walshes; and get back here on the double. "

      " Yessir! "

  Dismissed? Just like that? " Bridger, assist him as you must. And make sure they put someone capable on watching Sergeant Barnes. Tell them to cuff and hang his wrists from the rafters in my quarters, if they must whilst we deal with this. I won't have him bolting into this mess to his death; or using his great luck at finding a gap we haven't pinned yet, to point it out to the squids. "

          " I'll say this again Wrath: made it into your camp. I can make my way out. " wasn't so much calmer as it was just plain grit talking. But Bucky did think he could do it.

                " Kid...! " the big guy again, snatching his collar --Bridger, Scottish but with more of an American accent than any from the place he'd been living before joining up-- again; after lining up a carved out block on the ground just over the lip of the trench in the break made for firing between sandbags and curls of barbed wire. " You barely managed getting across that in one direction. And I'll point out you managed that only, because Wrath noticed the extra noise and motion and disobeyed orders just to pluck you out and punch them down. Almost got your --admittedly, courageous-- ass, hung from a lamp-post in the process might I add. "

  And okay. That was true. Bridger wasn't wrong, he did owe them his life but.. " And that was just the first four in the line currently pushing. We ain't gettin' ourselves across, never mind escorting you back over to the American end of camp without casualties. Even if we do? We risk poking exactly the kind of hole in our lines that'll let those T-13s through, and right into still approaching American and French artillery. Including your Captain's flank. " ..he wanted to argue. Wanted to. Even if he couldn't find a proper, rational argument he hadn't already tried with the guy's too-attractive-for-Bucky's-own-good commanding officer just that minute.

      Down the trenches between the pines they hadn't yet cleared further from them along the road, through them; deeper.. or rather the trenches were shallow off the back of the long hill slope. And all right. Looking back; looking half upwards at the line of men trying to keep cover and keep alive and just keep that line in one place..? Pausing, watching a trio of gurneys pass them in that narrow trench; carting out two dead and one who... probably would be before they even reached the tent? Looking back again? Seeing more fall to the explosion of a shell lucky enough to hit at just the right place in the trench line? Fully realizing from that pulled back perspective that.. men were already dying; without even trying to cross those tanks' paths? Their escort's paths?

 And then hearing " You gotta know he likes you; Hoarder. Wrath don't wanna end up escorting your body or bones back. He wants to keep you away from that kinda death if he can; and return you to your unit alive. "

      " Okay, okay. I get it. " wasn't insincere. Bridger was rough about the delivery; but he made sense. And between not being able to see Steve and the guys manage their retreat and yes; the mess they had all pulled out of the middle of to end up on the older, British end of camp? He could admit; he might have panicked a little. Though, Bucky still needed a deep breath; taking in the gunsmoke and mist, and undeniable scent of burnt blood, pine needles and earth with it to re-collect himself. " I should still be fighting though, at least. "

  That, didn't work out; not that he thought it would. Though he did get a deep sigh out and pat to his back in sympathy. " This' a British unit, kid. And not exactly of the normal variety. You don't know our protocols. Or, our priorities beyond taking on your salt and other supply, after our support crews bought it with the push before your lot finally got here. " was also an extra detail that surprised him a little, while " Don't gimme that look, junior. Wrath told you we'd adapted into that role, didn't he? " reminded Buck.. that yes; he had. After almost a month, Buck had nearly forgotten that mention though.

         Looking back again as they turned the next corner, curious now; he could have sworn that in the much more faded view he had seen every third man nearest Falconwrath's position actually hop the wire. Which was crazy and stupid and his brain told him not only an impossible eight to nine foot jump: but probably just his brain and the cold, misty fog playing tricks on him as they replaced or threw up a few more sandbags to give them more cushion to the barrier between them and munitions meant to take out tanks sporadically trying to feel out their range and targets in that same fog. " ..I should get back to the line though. You wanna fight; talk to Walsh or his junior edition when you get in, if you can. O,r go over what basic protocols he can give you through whatever guard he assigns in Wrath's place. "

     Which.. agitated him a little as Butters nudged him along with the butt of his rifle. " Wait a minute.. you're not seriously putting me under guard?! " was left behind by Bridger with a laugh.

            A laugh and the called back words " Like I said. He likes you kid! And you heard him. You're ours to protect for now.. or rather as he's claimed it, you're his. And we got priorities far as relating with you and your Captain Rogers goes too. " paused Buck long enough to hear as the fog ate him up too: and get Bucky a second nudge. " Don't think Loke won't keep you like a captive princess if that's what it takes to make sure he keeps you alive to try and meet those too! "

      " ...what did he mean by that? " was answered with a shake of Butters' head, at first. There wasn't any point, seeing just how thick the fog was getting now. Even if he had the opportunity prior.. he didn't think he could find the line to know where he would cross it any more. At that point.. he had to admit Falconwrath was right. Even if he did make it halfway across the half mile pinch between wooded hills; it would be pure dumb luck if he didn't run into Germans first. Or get himself turned around in that grey-black soup in the process of trying to avoid just that.

     " ..the princess bit? " had that tinge of an odd accent. Buck wasn't sure if it was Irish, Scottish; or a blend. Either way, and as Butters went on quietly beside and behind his right shoulder it was made obvious it was stronger than he'd thought. " Exactly what'ee said. Dun worry though lad; our lot'll hold the line. We managed afore you got here after all, if barely in that last stretch. " though that glance back, the smirk that he caught with it on his eyes' way to looking where he was going again as they passed one of the med tents and the small lamp attached only amped his curiosity slightly combined with Butters' last comment. " That the weather's actually helpin' again, is a godsend. "

              Which was one part weird, and raised a few hairs for that weirdly confident half-smile on it's own.

                       How was this soup any help to Wrath's company, or anyone's at all; after what he had just said about the whole of the British lines on this side of the road? He knew damned well the American side was going to be cursing their way through making sure their own side was still in position. That was after all part of why he had been so worried..

        " Oi. " a smack to his shoulder as the first mild glow of covered lanterns could be picked out farther ahead. Buck didn't have much room for argument, in the end. He was already there, wasn't he. And.. maybe that was a good thing. He'd been looking for excuses to try and catch more time with Wrath; hadn't he? Now, even if a shitty one: getting stuck on the other side of their blockade did technically serve? " Believe me boyo, they'll be fine. And, they'll have us movin' quick enough if we're not. You'll learn. Trust 'n' patience're two things ya gotta have with Wrath. And they pay off when ya keep 'em, as Montgomery's found out. He does know what he's doin'. "

     " I guess I could think of it as leave, til someone puts another rifle in my hand. "

                   " Well.. next time don' get yer ass dragged across the road on the end of a chain meant ta hang ya ta lose your own, eh. Or.. maybe shoot ya on..? Whatever. Fuckin' squids... you get the idea. " Butters.. was right on that. Going alone had been stupid. He should have tried to argue harder to get them to move then. But, at least, Steve and the guys had shown in the middle: even if they had ended up broken up and on opposite sides of the blockade due to incoming fire from the mini-tanks behind the first set they had taken out. " Anyways, next time go for 'is weapon. Not just 'is face. That was just askin' for it.. "

             " I'll ...remember, that. "

     One last look as they stepped up onto that decrepit porch. He wasn't sure how far back into the trees the ancient cabin-house was but the incoming was hard to miss when it came to the sound... shells that big, even at that speed did make a sound of their own too. White noise, to most before they hit.. but he heard it. That brief, quick whine. The BUUMF! When they hit the sand and earth, or crack and roar of a falling tree. Bucky realized.. it was the quiet landings that were the dangerous ones. The scary ones.

           Because the quiet landings, he had come to realize over the last month: were where the shells hit softer things. Where they hit their marks, outside of the usual, larger armored vehicles.

                                                   Where they hit people.

~-=TWO DAYS LATER=-~

~-=5:30 AM=-~

           " ...mmmmmmf. " was carrying the best feeling, at the moment.

   And probably the closest to purring " ..James. " had ever come in all his twenty seven years. But; it was the only thought waking warm and beyond comfortable in what after a few years of barely padded field cots was the near heaven of a regular --if beaten down-- bed, with an extra warm and already familiar body spooned and half wrapped around him from behind. Breath crossing over his bare shoulder.

     The feel of welcomed fingers and palms sliding slow; back and down along his sides to his hips, his thighs, and start their way back up in what he could only describe as the waking leftovers of being pushed physically, emotionally and yes even mentally to the blissed-out state Buck was still floating in under the barely there glow of early morning light filtering through the window further along the wall, and the backs of his own eyelids. Extra heat, the damp roll of that tongue at the nape of his neck when he arched back instead of forward; further into the feel of that skin, as bare as his behind him under the covers.

   Buck had heard the morning Reveille, he had. The same. " ..is it bad I don't wanna get outta bed? Even knowing what's out there? " was met with a low chuckle and bite to the back of his neck and soft spoken, rumbling whisper of " You are not alone there, James. I assure you. " that made him smile a lazy smile and turn over in Wrath's arms to find his mouth; and catching it. If it weren't for being able to still hear the dull, occasional shot from what T-13s that hadn't been captured or destroyed in testing the ground to their current standstill? Buck might have questioned whether or not he was dreaming.

       " But.. " was not a word he wanted to hear followed up either and as a result between almost smacking-slow morning kisses. He ended up turning the rest of the way. Wrapping his leg up around his hip like an octopus or something equally clingy, trying to keep him there. " ...while you may be able; I'm not. " Also got him groaning out an admittedly pouty and whiny " ...nuuu.~ " and trying at a half-assed attempt to keep him right there. Right there, and out of his uniform. Which, only got him a chuckle at first, and a few more bliss-brushing; mock-biting kisses as Wrath attempted to retreat out of the bed in what small room to one side of the tiny place was serving as his officer's quarters.

       " It's five thirty, eh. " whispered against his ear as Wrath rolled him to pin his arms up and the rest of him down. Got Buck to open his eyes to the stabbing, liquid heat of silver-blues flecked with pale, pale green. " Morning reports from the night watch will be readied in with the tea, too. " came with a kiss at the end, the tickle of raven's wings that was the ends of Wrath's hair where it was cut to just about his chin when not mostly slicked back, or held back by his hat brushing at Bucky's cheeks. He ended up filing his fingers into it and half sitting up to chase another kiss.. steal it.

                " ..what if I don't wanna go out for the 'morning brew'. " was intended to tempt him back from his half-retreat out from under the sheets. " What if I wanna roll around between the sheets with you a little longer..? "

         " I'd say it would be a very tempting offer.. " did get him one more, as he was skipping his long legs into his skivvies and pants. " ..but I doubt the Germans and their squid infestation; will leave us the option. Well. " And left Buck to fall back to the mattress and huff at the ceiling. " Me, the option. Have you finished going over protocols with Joshua? "

     " No. " was his answer of course from under the beaten up lumpy pillow he pulled over his head. Though " Good. " was an answer he didn't expect, and squinted a peek at that too-handsome face for while he was tugging his undershirt over his head again from ..where ever, they had let it drop between the bed and the door after their 'argument' last night. " ...why. "

            " Because. " brought him back to the bed again; had him tugging that pillow down along his chest and out of the way to snag another kiss. Brief, affectionate, sweet.. and definitely holding promises for more later; between the feel and his words. " I rather like you as an unexpected, allied guest in my bed; versus another rifle on the ridge: at the moment and just for one. And I shan't have the excuse any longer once you're caught up. "

     " Or if we and the French and U.S. forces on the other side of them clear a clean enough passage to get me back to my own unit? " had a slightly less enthusiastic tone to it now, two days and their first night together later.

            " Yes, James. That too... " came with a brush of his nose along Buck's that made a small portion of his smile come back up. Tempted his fingers, back into pushing through Wrath's hair. Pulled his mouth back into another kiss he couldn't help but curl up to, and get a little lost in before they both heard the door to the outer main room open, and then close. Where Buck hadn't been around for too many instances like it on his side of the lines; they both knew what that meant, now. Morning reports. Morning tea. Other people moving around on the edges of the space they'd stolen over the course of the night. The last thought especially made him drop his head to the empty space on the mattress where the pillow had been.

       Wrath was finishing getting dressed in his second, cleaner uniform from there. The one that hadn't been dropped or thrown to the floor in stages. He smelled the shaving kit being stirred up again sometime after the call, and after he'd closed his eyes trying to eek out a few more minutes of denial. Saw him reach for that weird ceramic bottle too when he opened them again, managing to stop him before he was done with the turn towards the door: already looking clean and put together, and all too tempting to take apart again.

          " ...get up, eh. Before you tempt me back down again with that view, Sergeant. " as a leaned near hiss in his direction through that particular devouring look and smile; just had him flashing the sheets back and smirking as Buck hung one leg off the edge of the bed; folding both arms up under his neck to give him a very clearly defiant come-hither display that... okay. He did blush a little for putting on, given he'd never done anything like that with another man, even if he had done it with women before. It didn't help that Loke ended up white-knuckling the doorknob along with that look either.

     " Oh, Sergeant... " Or that it didn't disconnect until he was done with the almost growled admonishment, and the door got in the damned way. " You're going to be very sorry, for that; later. "

            Which.. only served to punish  Barnes immediately with wishing Loke would come right back in there and make good on the promise in it, then and there.

   After all; making good on those kinds of threats mid-argument last night had been what had landed him exactly where he was: naked in Lieutenant Colonel Loke Falconwrath's bed. Which was more than nice, and proven to be even better; even more joyfully exhausting than his fantasies over the last month had ever reached for. Buck ended up tugging the pillow back over his head just thinking about what had happened. And making a point not to think about what anyone else outside of Wrath's immediate squad might say or think, while also trying to ignore the soft-spoken but still rumbling accented undertones wafting in from the other room he knew were Wrath's. The accent, the voice already did him in, before.

    Looked like, morning after and now that he knew some of what he really sounded like aroused? Just made it worse. Buck ended up squinting down in the general direction of his groin from under the pillow and hissing " ..traitor. " at what was trying to rise up and rebel against the idea of getting dressed and getting fed down there, just at the reminder that was filtering through the wall before he thumped the pillow away from his face entirely and yeah; hopped to make his own noise getting cleaned up and dressed to cover said sounds.

   As it was, hearing Joshua's obvious lifting tones answering alongside Wrath's after the grey-eyed Irish all but kicked the door in around two A.M. just before he'd passed out on that last bone-shaking orgasm? Was going to make things weird for Buck; even if Loke had proven right and the younger Walsh didn't only not care: but had actually done everything but shrug on his way out telling them to keep it down before they ended up drawing fire. Or his uncle out of his sleep where he was bunked in what had probably once been the wood shed. Which apparently was the worse option, since his uncle was apparently a harder-line Catholic than the younger Walsh that had crashed in on their bed-time fun with his sidearm raised.

    Thankfully, Josh was headed out flicking through the papers again on his way through the door when James did finally get out there. Buck wasn't about to stop or pause him, and apparently neither was Loke as he was reading over what had been left behind, turned at a slight twist to tip at his reading over the table with his morning cup halfway to his mouth. There was a long drawn out moment of breathlessness getting caught just inside the doorway, looking at him as the sun came in the front windows to slash through the morning dim to catch him by surprise anyway.

  He ended up thinking what he had the first time he'd seen him first; that even with the morning stubble still not taken off his chin: Wrath didn't look his age at all, being almost thirty. Lean but beyond sturdy and a lot stronger than he looked, Loke actually looked younger than Buck himself was. Twenty, maybe at oldest twenty five for all those picture perfect lines and chiseled, often devilish features. Dark lashes lowered and barely moving with the rapid motion that went with him taking in the night reports from his relief. One raven's wing of black hair had slid loose along the far right side of his face too, making his clear pale complexion appear paler only with the contrast; if warmed further by the few dawn colors breaking through the trees and windows both.

   And then there were those eyes. Silvery-blue pools that stuck and felt often like they weren't blinking when he looked at you; even when they were. Which, after a few long seconds of staring and the slow curl  of his mouth before he sipped; Buck realized late, were doing that just then. Yeah, he tried; but keeping the blush of getting caught entirely from his neck, ears and face was next to impossible. " ...oh stop grinning about it. " managed at least as he took up the empty and clean if rickety wooden chair kiddie corner in his fluster, mildly annoyed he had been caught.

      " Can you blame me after last night? " got his new lover a drier look as he poured his own cup, and thanked god it was actual coffee this time.

              " ...guess not. " came out the same.

                       " Did you sleep well..? I wasn't too, ah.. "

                               " Handsy..? " was a dry tease too, and managed to get a little clearing of his throat and lift to his chin as he went back to reading that implied he might be a little better at tucking his blush maybe? And? Also pulled that dry expression of Buck's into a softer tone, both expression wise and in ..yeah, definitely affection. Buck had just spent the night with a man he'd been trying to keep quiet about chasing back and forth across the Blockade lines between the Factory tucked into that pass and the rest of the German forces now trying to keep their hold on Belgium, for a month. " No such thing with me, L.T. " came first and brought that notched up chin down a fraction before Buck admitted: " I actually like it. Slept better for it. " and after he snagged a couple of teaspoons of sugar to sweeten up the bitters: " ..actually, most girls I been with; usually ended up kicking me outta bed for being so clingy while they're trying to sleep. "

      " Their loss, my gain then? " made him pause again, caught on that and the motion of his fingers as he scrawled out a brief letter of return and signature over one piece of paper to one side; grateful Wrath was visually distracted enough not to see how easily he could turn him to blushing like a teenager when he said things like that, especially that bluntly. It reminded him too quickly of other things, more wicked things he'd hissed and whispered over the course of the night. Against other skin, as much as under his ear or against his mouth.

   Though. As he finished it up and pushed the paper into an envelope bound further down the British lines of the blockade from the looks of it? the phrase also reminded him that .. this couldn't last. " Any changes..? "

           " None. The French are pinching off the remainder of ground forces between us and their reinforcement beyond our blockade intended to pinch us as you said when you delivered the news. They've buckled in with a few anti-aircraft units provided by the U.S. to keep incoming bombers and para-troopers from managing a decent drop into their zone to boot; not that they've been able to get many through, since they lost those two airstrips in closest range. The estimates remain the same, as far as air support. "

     Which meant, they would likely be able to drive the Germans back if not bust the factory open finally in the next two to four days; once the French were freed up to drive and float men right up the middle and reverse the situation. Two, to four days left, of this. The thought and what went with it, had Buck staring at that envelope across the table. Coffee stuck just a few inches in front of his mouth. It wasn't an overnight thing. He'd known it was coming. Two nights ago, he could have admitted it couldn't have come fast enough. He was worried about his guys. Steve, the rest of the Howling Commandos. The battalion they were currently with too.

         But now? After the last couple of days? Confirming they were alive even at a distance included? After last night, and especially thinking about how he'd woken up this morning? The first thing that popped out of his mouth; the first thought that came up looking at that letter was " I wanna see your Westchester house. " and managed to pull his eyes away from it, and set his cup on one knee when he didn't get a reply. That Loke was looking at him with that slight gap between his lips, like he'd managed to surprise him. " After the war. I want to go there... I know it's probably a .. I know it's probably sudden, but-- "

          " It's not, for me. " cut him off with a surer tone than he had himself. And a glance away, tucking the envelope and the papers into the third chair; out of sight. " Sudden, I mean. We've been dancing around each other for a month in truth, haven't we? " made Buck's heart skip up into his throat so fast he had to swallow to keep it down. Realizing some part of him had been hanging onto the idea --apparently the very wrong one, with that statement and question-- that his attraction and growing infatuation had been wholly one-way up until recently. " I was thinking the same thing, when I was coming out here from the bedroom. I want to take you to the Tay, too. In Scotland. If I can. If, you want. "

                " ....would you mind? " paused Wrath with what Buck recognized as nerves in the slight fiddling of his cup's finger ring with his thumb, not just for the answer to that question; but to the statement that followed. " I .. well to be honest; companionship, passion and affection the likes of which I feel with you: and I feel -- think, you return.. is a rarity, for me. You're something of a treasure, James. One I don't think I want to give up, if I can help it. If either of us, can help it: given our current situation. "

       It took Bucky a few long, nervous and probably bright red seconds of gap-mouthed staring to realize he hadn't misheard and, Wrath was waiting for an answer. He knew what he wanted to immediately say. He did. The thing was, he just had to pinch himself. Just once. And ask " ...am I still asleep? " before he could answer. Because, and seriously: " Because yes, and it's returned; and, if this is just a dream? I think I'm gonna wanna drown myself in that shitty field shower first thing, waking up out of it. "

         And Wrath laughed, the asshole. Just grinned, and half set down his cup where it was still hanging on those long, sure fingers of his: and laughed at him. " ....hey. It's a fair question. Especially when you're acting all storybook-prince on me first thing in the morning! Screw off you ...limey Brit? "

        The last of which, apparently, didn't help him stop laughing. Even when he said. " Bloody Maker..! Definitely; a treasure..! " between curling, half barking bouts that.. just made Buck smile that much more: and he could admit still half-hypnotized him on the spot. Just, for how warm he and that smile was...

-{ROGERS}-

={2018 - MARE NECTARIS - THE ORIGIN}=

  'All pilots; please report to GREEN for defensive deployment preparations. Abbreviated instructive drills, will commence once pilot visors are in place.'

          The announcements were already steady. 'Those terrans with combat helicopter and heavy munitions experience, please state your flight experience on arrival through portal two.' And people were still coming. 'Those requiring and providing medical assistance are directed towards RED: portals A through E, eight.'

   They were also a strange punctuation to the argument happening on the command platform. " Steve's right; if there's a chance? We can't leave them behind. Those are our people, down there. " Natasha, though by her expression she was having a hard time admitting that.

     " Not likely your people, any more. " from Wong, the reiteration; backed by Loki's continuation and reminder " Correction; with the Power Stone backing the mind stone as his first true paired-use: definitely, not any more. We missed our window, thanks to grandstanding combined with trying to play nice on the battlefield as is. There was a time and place for that, and your people, overstepped that line when it came to. Now we all have to deal with the consequences of that. For now, most of them  are lost. "

         'All civilian personnel report to PURPLE; temporary residential assignments will be given and further arranged within the Bibliotheca via drone and console accompaniments.'

         " You can't say that for certain. " had Loki taking in a long breath at the table top as it's screens shifted. " You said yourself, that they might be able to break loose. "

                                'Engineers and other mechanical techs, please report to GOLD for immediate assignment.'

 " NO. I said one or two might be able. Not the whole. And without Wanda countering Mind again -- which we already know she can't given she sacrificed her own self-defense and autonomy over saving the rest of us who were otherwise close enough to immediately otherwise be taken with the rest? That leaves one. Just, one. Maybe. "

      Thor sounded about as accepting in his growl-tone when it started on " Again brother, you-- " and the announcements repeated again; over and over through varied drones already active over everyone's heads behind them.

             " I AM CERTAIN OF IT. IT HAS BEEN SEEN AND PROVEN BEFORE! " cut Thor and well.. all else off, hard and fast and louder even than Thor had been shouting at him just minutes prior: both off and on the command platform.

     And shut everyone up, if only for the fact that there had been no anger expressed until then. Not an ounce of it. One deep breath while that registered, and Loki was fast on his own words' heels. " We have one. One stone after that fiasco, one chance to keep his attention with it and pull them and the remaining deployment rings away from Earth and teh prospect of wasting his time and resources here rather than chasing it and us, down. We have to get their remaining attention to have that information waiting for his ears, before he recovers from the shock his body and mind especially are in after that in order for it to be the most effective. And! " one finger, solidly raised at Thor from across the seven foot gap of table between them. " You of all people, after costing us all of this by stopping me from cutting the tendons attached to the hand in that damned glove in favor of your own flailing pursuit of glory and vengeance, especially do not get to tell me of all people otherwise! Just because we are away from one battle, and you insist on arguing about the procedure of the next from here after that horrendous failure; does not mean this War is done! If anything, you have succeeded in prolonging it, and endangering the whole of the bloody universe for that extended duration: which only lasts in the positive so long as we remain alive and more importantly? The final Stone kept out of his hands. "

      " Loki's right, on .. a lot of that. But especially the last part. " out of Bruce. And yes, Steve could admit as much as he hated it; as much as it made his skin crawl: was a more rational, truthful view. " Regardless of anything else; Thanos ultimately wants the stones. Earth was just where he was picking them up. " Bruce again, loud enough to be heard while the two Asgardian princes stared each other down. Thor was the first to look away, back to Bruce as he finished. " I hate this as much as you guys do; but end of the line? If leaving people behind means saving half the damn universe including our own world in it and the people we are leaving behind --even, Steve.. only temporarily!-- Then we need to do it. We need to be the bait that lures him away. "

            " Okay, then. " Nat again, not liking this. Hands leaning her over the command table. He wanted her to keep fighting it even knowing all this, Steve realized. " Do we even have a plan for this? Because versus a bunch of space ships that came from a lot farther out? And regardless of all the questions this place just being here brings up? The Moon does not seem far enough. And no way, even these ships will get everyone Wong and his brought in, out of here: " was a very obvious point from Nat's end too, and one that Steve realized had been part of the itch in the back of his mind right next to Bucky's fate. " ..not that the announcements seem to be aiming the Wakandans that way. "

      " Because I do, always have a plan Romanov. Several to fall back on, usually. Yes, that includes this scenario. And.. if this pays out the way I think it will in the next half an hour then; they aren't going back, in this scenario. Not any time soon. We can't stay here; and they cannot go home with the threat of Earth's most advanced technological society potentially falling further under the control of a literally super-powered Mind Stone.. and, I need a bigger crew to follow through that might be able to grasp the technology on hand that isn't a single, talking raccoon and re-forming Flora Colossi in training. Wakandans are the closest you have without Anthony or Strange retrieved and present. " was news they hadn't heard and had Loki nodding once to Rocket on the lower, offered apology of " ...no offense meant, Rocket. " only stalled the questions that came with it.

      " None taken man.. that ship is too big, even for lil old me. " was backed up with an " I am, Groot! " that seemed to be something along the same lines.

        " Ship..? " confused more than Rocket with the way Loki of all people turned the word into a question. " We're not using the ships unless we have to. "

           " Then how we doin' this and why you movin' that really big whale-lookin' one out into the bay?! " came with some excited full fur-body motions back out towards the moors. And, didn't get an immediate reply.

   Steve ended up trying not to grab and flip the table at Loki for that quiet alone while the others shared a look, and Bruce called it out: " Loki man. You're gonna have to share sometime. "

         " Yes. " ended his squint at Rocket and had Loki taking in a breath. " Sometime not being now. Not yet... " had a steady look of tense understanding between Wong and Loki passing between them that raised the hair on Steve's neck again. " Not, while the portals are still open and those few living going out are still passing within earshot that might be passed along into Thanos' mind; given we have no idea how long his mental stun will last past that half hour if at all. " Wasn't something anyone had thought of as a possibility.

      Loki wasn't done though."  What's more.. though I will not go back for them and risk who we do have unaffected: " and that look passed from Wong, to the edge of the command platform currently guarded by the squad off the carrier that had filed in and taken up a role to give them exactly that kind of room. Specifically, tat look landed on the auburn haired man in command of their lot standing at the end of their line, who had been watching them since. "  ..that doesn't mean I am unwilling to give the one person I know with certainty might be able to break loose from the Mind Stone. Even, boosted by the Power Stone as that first conjoined hit was. We will give him, and use every ounce of time we can afford. "

    This time, it was Walsh asking after a long squint listening through that " Oh for fucks sake no. You have got to be kiddin' me... you really think that'll hold up?  Under the pressure a two Infinity Stones? " in a much lower tone that snapped Steve's spine straight again. And more so as Joshua snapped out " When was the last time ya reinforced  that wonky-assed half-spell-bound counter-programming attempt with Barnes? The fuckin' sixties, maybe?! Early seventies at best?! Tell me that innit really  your bet this round! "

          " Shut your mouth, Joshua. " was what really good and truly threw Steve though, along with the rush to grab him forward on that growl.

                                                            Because: " ..his what. " was suddenly an immediate interest.

       " We don't discuss this further. Not now. Not yet. " was jabbed hard at both Joshua and Rogers with a fat poke of his fingers while the other set started working a holographic keypad. The others were even more stunned by that possibility. Too much to butt in at just that moment. " Not, until the docks are cleared; and portals closed. Thanos picking up on the attempt if successful; might well get him killed otherwise. "

              " Okay. Why, then. What did you tell 'im to do when ya left him behind? " from Joshua was a new facet of the same set of questions.

      Because, four words.

              Four words including his name was all it had taken for Buck's face to blink into a near look of confusion, barely getting him to respond if very briefly and in Russian; and stay in place before those portals had snapped shut behind them again on Loki's order.

       'James. Is it safe.'

                                          'Da, Leytentant Polkovnik.'

                                                               'Then help me finish it, if you can.'

-{APRIL 2014}-

          His vision was bleary. And not just from the likely concussion and hopefully brief oxygen deprivation.

  It was the water and debris in it still clinging to his eyes as he opened them after coughing up the nasty river water from out of his lungs.

     He'd felt the last compressions.. well. They had been more like chest punches really. Or felt like it. Heard the call out of that familiar voice.

Knew Loki was close with it, if he hadn't been the one to fish him out of the water Steve barely remembered rushing at him in the fall. He was trying to get someone's attention. His head was still swimming. Enough that it wasn't just the here and now with what he assumed was the sound of the carriers going down over that same water in D.C. in the background. He was hearing and seeing things from a year ago. The apartment. That instant hurt when he had cracked out those stupid words; lies every one: on an unneeded and he knew instantly? Hurtful defense against something so sweet and uncharacteristically shy that.. Rogers still felt dirty and ashamed having let those words past his teeth.

      That look, watching that opening in his armor crumble closed again inches from his own face? Still made Steve ache.

    After the mock-fight they'd had; after the hall and the real argument and the way he ... had just taken what Steve had barked at him from there to the hallway stair at face value and not come back?

 Seeing him snatching Sam out of the sky mid-fall for that roof, even at a distance; only to turn right around and hard jump and magic-whip --literally-- his way back onto the closest carrier?

        Mmhm. That was still a surprise. A surprise, and maybe a blessing he didn't deserve?

    But a welcome one. One he was glad to have seen. Even if Natasha didn't understand it, or who he was when she'd tried to slow him down: not having seen the save or knowing who he was under that weird mask and black on black on more black fighting gear, with the nasty-mean dragon's-claws gauntlets and full segmented scale-like matte plates to reinforce the parts that needed the most armor otherwise. Steve had barked at her; lost a few seconds of his own progress to convince her to back off. She was unsure, but he hadn't been.

  Rogers couldn't confuse him for anyone else, himself. Not between the build, the moves he had used to get in close; how fast he was and the magic itself.

            And that grasping, palm first backhand he'd aimed at Buck's head minutes later just as Steve had fallen through?

       Yeah. That had been extra confirmation. That was Loki all right. Steve knew that move very well from their sparring sessions in the basement, both back in the apartment and the place under the mall McDonalds on fourth while they'd been digging around trying to figure out who in SHIELD was actually HYDRA and who wasn't, once the two of them had all but confirmed that suspicion post-Scepter snatching in twenty twelve. Incidentally, he was still angry at himself, for how they had split. Maybe more so for the fact he had shown up today, like that; covering him regardless. Trying to snatch Bucky with that grab rather than really hurt him. 'Cause yeah there was that too. That's what that move was meant to do; grab, swing: and immobilize with the body-bopping stun.

          Not, a killing move. Even with his claws out. Steve knew this.

How many times had he been bounced off a wall himself, with his head and neck in that safety-grip once the second hand was in to help and followed through?

 A few more deep, violent, chest-ache inducing coughs on his side and his ears were starting to clear more.

       Harder blinks, trying again at clearing the tears formed between that and just the natural flow brought on by his eyes wanting to get rid of what small debris came with the river water left itself. He could hear .. metal on metal. And the trouble of the thump of hits beyond that. He could see the blurbs of their forms, definitely fighting before the loud cracking slap that shoved them apart. Sent one half-diving into the grass and first trees ahead along the bank which; just sort of looked like green fluffy pop-sickles to him in his skewed focus.

                  Take in a breath and...

   After all that coughing? Apparently he still wasn't done. Ended up curling on his side half in the grass when the little water in there just ended up rattling around and half choking him all over again. It wasn't enough to drown on dry land, he knew by this stage. But it was enough to stop him from having any real lung power or voice outside of that cough until he was clear, and make him feel between the strain of ribs and muscle around them, and the shortness of breaths between and tight, instant soreness of throat that reached into his ears from the inside? Like he might cough up a lung.

        Honestly, he was worried about exactly that for a good minute; unable again to hear much more than the deep purring undertones of Loki's voice he'd missed so damned much, and the low shorter returns from Bucky. He couldn't make out the words. His own coughing was too loud for that, before he finally managed to turn himself completely over and actually get the stupid water out of his chest.

   he could hear them both though; calmer tones. Steady. Almost like a drum-beat. The low strum of Loki's voice, the warmth of it he'd missed first thing in the morning when he'd bang on his door when he woke late to let Steve know he was going ahead on their usual jog, or on the wall from the other side while he was painting or drawing and trying in the last months not to let Loki be the subject for change to let him know he was going shoping. Asking if he wanted or needed anything.

     Missing the moisture to his old shaving kit still sitting on the sink in the bathroom; and the smell of that stuff he used to supplement the magic in his tattoos: or the way he kept pulling the Hersheys out of the fridge door and had started hiding it at the back on the top shelf. Laughed at kids cartoons. Actually sang along with Disney flicks when he didn't think Steve was paying attention. Especially when he was cooking; or more amusingly: when he was at the reinforced punching bag they usually set up in what had once been the tiny dining room next to the bedroom they'd shared from early in because his apartment didn't have a spare, or an extra bed: and Lo was too damned tall to sleep on the living room furniture for long without consequences.

  Well, that and the distrust that had, a year later; stupidly allowed to shoot back into the fore and started that argument.

                  Gotta get up, Rogers. Got to get a hand on him.

      Sitting up was hard though. He felt like there was no air even sucking it in, even trying to control the grasp; breath after sharp breath. Hands were dirty, muddy with the push up. With the leftover debris still spotting his vision as it was, Steve didn't dare try and rub them clean with dirt-and-grass stuck hands. Words finally filtering in a bit though. His chest felt a little lighter just hearing Loki's question. Even if what he was asking was something he couldn't and didn't want to think about just yet.

             " Is it safe? "

                               On both of them.. can't lose him again.

                       " Da, ya v poryadke Leytentant Polkovnik. Vse yeshche zameshatel'stve, no.. "

       Not so much hard blinks as long ones. Trying to flush his eyes out. Was that .. Russian? And shaking his head, because that pause; the sound of boots in the grass and through the brush in the other direction. And " Khorosho... good. Go, quickly. We split from here, for now. Steve will be fine. Neither of us should be caught. "

                                              Definitely Russian. UNIMPORTANT though! Not losing either of them... come on!

          " Captain Rogers! " was that Hill?

     Steve could hear .. he didn't know for sure but shaking his head again and trying to get up even with blurry vision once the " Stop where you are! " proceeded a pair of shots and the almost hissed " ..what the hell. Did he just.. disintegrate..? " before Steve could even put in told Rogers pretty clearly that the one the guy had shot at had probably been Loki. Or rather, probably one of his illusions.

            " Maria.. Agent Hill?! " had not one but two pairs of hands trying to help him steady on his feet. " I'm here, sir. "

" I can't see yet, there's stuff in my eyes. Are they still in sight? " And his right hand finding, catching her shoulder when Hill's voice answered on an exhausted exhale: " ..no, sir. And with that last view? I think they got away. "

         Which got an immediate " ..well at least there's that. " that pulled her shoulders tense again under his hand.

                 Steve, wasn't in the mood to explain. Not right then, and not a few minutes later when he finally cleared his eyes, through the help of a bottle of water and one of those extra agents. By then, he knew they were both long gone. Bucky, and Loki. Maybe already out of state.

    And hopefully..? Hopefully, not off world, was a thought he had to swallow and tamp down though the tiny pessimist his own brand of stupid and insecure had grown since he'd screwed up and thrown Lo out. Since he hadn't come back. Now that it was done; now that HYDRA was exposed and Insight was literally sinking though: not even the not-pessimistic parts could see him staying. Not after that look. Not after the hurt he'd caused and the immediate understanding of what that rejection had cost him before Lo had closed that last little sliver of the opening he'd given Rogers up right in front of him.

        " ..stay safe. Please, at least stay safe. " ended up almost whispered under his breath to God: though he absolutely could admit it was to the one that had escaped as much as the one he'd been raised to have faith in. His mind locked on that changing face in his memory more than the water running by in the river, those few shocked-still raw moments watching it happen. The seconds it took in the tiny dimmed hall in their apartment just before dinner: for Loki to go from careful, and unsure and trusting Steve more than he thought he should; to hurt and disappointed in himself for trying, and finally to the fake-blank and fast-in-place smile, ducking out of the pin Steve had caught him in against the wall to get the surprise of that sweet, fragile kiss and just.. keep going. Instantly push it away and try to play it off like part of a joke made to stop the rough-housing so they could sit down to eat.

     Reliving the barely contained verbal fight he himself turned it into from there.

                                              Angry. Very angry.

           Didn't catch at who really until he was out the door; passing by Sharon not that Steve knew for sure who she was back then.

            Didn't understand until Lo was out of sight down the stairs after shouting at him not to come back himself.

              Didn't realize what he'd done.

                Not until he ended up standing in the still-open door after answering Sharon's question with a lie and catching the smell before he saw for himself Lo had made Lasagna, knowing it was Steve's favorite. Seeing the second setting at their table he was leaving behind from the door. His guitar and lute both leaned up against the lazy-boy peeking at him from around the other corner. Thinking instantly about going out after him; realizing he was too late. Thinking he didn't have anywhere else to go and would know better; be back in a couple of hours: and he'd apologize. Make it right and maybe get a chance to make it up to him. Wipe the thought, the memory of that look; that hurt out of his own head and, maybe talk about it if he'd let him.

   Keep going. Keep working as partners in this whole mess; as they had been by then, no matter how much that scared teh parts of him still trying to cling to Stuttgart and New York, and everything else he'd proved to be nothing like, a view that was inaccurate and so small, so completely.. wrong, since.  So he waited. And .. he waited. And. Steve waited.

                    Except.

               Except...

         Except; he never came home.

  And, no. Looking back at the river again, thinking about it? Halfway through the trees and the scrub, and catching onto the only mild-to-him surprise that one of Hill's trucks was missing? Snagged from just a few hundred yards away, behind the position they'd been recovering him from, riverside?

             Rogers didn't really think he would any time soon.

   Lost his chance. Should have gone after him. Shouldn't have said those things; in the first place.

Closing the door to the truck he did get into while they called the theft and their disappearance in, and Rogers spotted the wiring for the GPS sticking out from the edge of a bush after a moment of leaning his head slightly out the window when it caught his eye; Steve knew they weren't going to find him any more than he himself would have that night, though.

        Because once you lost sight of Loki? If he didn't want you to?

          There was no certainty in catching him ever again.

                Steve had known that, even back then; and he still wished he'd tried turning around and chasing him down those stairs.

                                                          Tried, calling his name. Because he missed him.

Missed him, every time he woke up to an empty bed and and and empty apartment, and; what had turned back into an empty life again: after, he'd gone.

                           After Loki taken those scared, stupidly defensive moments to heart: and taken the half of Rogers' own he'd stolen, with him.

={BARNES}=

={2018 - WAKANDA WILDS}=

        Panicking!

               He couldn't help it.

                       Metal twisting, fingers too. Other hand swinging at them, even if it was clearly weakened as he started to realize what Buck and the Soldier were doing.

     What they were after. What reason they had their false fingers clamped around his big fat knuckles and squeezing, twisting after to get them loose. The fact he was scrabbling otherwise or trying to; trying to get a grip on them both? Didn't matter quite as much yet. He was still half-blown from that first attempt. He didn't know though. Good attempt maybe but still pretty weak and finding out they were both used to the attempt from men more used to doing better jobs of grabbing his brain: to attempt again at handling --and failing to get a grip at-- the parts of both of them even the Soviets; even HYDRA hadn't been able to control or leash fully. Big and ugly was finding out first hand; and much more clearly: between the two of them in his head? They could  hide and slip through his clumsy mental fingers like drops of water or mercury; or cut him like sharpened needling shards of diamond.

       On again. Off. In and out of the cold dead silence of cryo; but always trying to keep their hold on him. On both of them. The Soldier was easy. Or at least seemed that way. The one they pulled to the front. A terror and horror and ugly mask --ugly shield in truth-- that the other half, that drop of the real Barnes left; the deepest part and memories they couldn't touch and refused to make real as anything but a cover, a shield of his own. A safe if horrible place to hide when his skin cooked and brain was stunned and body cut into again and again and again. It was a fight of a whole other level and sort that someone as arrogant and obstinate and used to being the abuser rather than the abused, could never keep up with when against someone like him --like them-- who had spent his time getting stronger inside, defending against; was.

           And okay, maybe Wrath was right. Even stronger and meaner between his ears than he was outside of them even with the serum running through his veins.

    Not after a century. Not, after getting stronger and yeah sometimes angrier, and definitely sharper and better at hiding in his own head and keeping his word. Holding, under the weight of his own ugly shield. Defiant and viciously defensive of keeping that busted up shitty cabin with mismatched furniture, those words; that battlefield. Those memories they didn't know about, couldn't know about as his under HYDRA programming. They had no idea. Under their Soldier's skin? Was his Soldier.

           Throw that at him!

      Not the blue eyes. Not the fact his right set of dimples was deeper than the one on his left. Not how he didn't eat for an entire day and inspired his men to do almost the same just to feed the Belgian civilians that had run from the lines of German troops trying to pin them between the tank-killing T-13s and their incoming infantry from the back of the blockade. Not how he fidgeted in small, prideful ways when actually talking about how he felt and what he wanted and feeling Buck out when he needed to, to reinforce or knock down his quiet insecurities.

         Toss the torture.

 Throw the surgeries at him!

Let him see and know and get crushed under what it feels like, what we remember about pummeling Howard to death at the edge of that ditch and feeling Maria's pulse die out on your fingers, knowing there isn't another choice left just to survive. Let him see, what you made Steve do to defend you. Let him feel every ounce of that and the guilt that comes with it remembering those grief-riddled, angry brown eyes.

            " ...don't even look at me unless you're strong enough. " came hissed hot out of his own mouth as he braced his boot harder against that ugly face as he did. Threw ages of death one decade after another at him. Faces he knew over faces he didn't. Let him get the full feel of that too. Whips of cold pain and hardening denial. Promises of retribution when ever those eyes and that pretty smile came back for him. Because they would. He would. He had. And this time, Bucky recognized him too well to let the Soldier run in fear.

        The stretch; the stress and push with one leg; then two. Pop-pop and pop between his metal fingers. Screaming, searing, horrible pain when they installed the struts and supports for metal denser than his bones into and along his ribs. His spine. " ...you think you're something scary, big man? A monster? "  Did make him laugh between the chuck and whip and near hysteria of driven FUCK OFF crazy mode they could absolutely admit they were already deep into by that point. Apparently that had it's affect too between that and the burn working it's way up his arm. Was it trying to melt it solid? Screw that. Time to really push.. " Oh, hell no little boy. You aren't anything but a whining, selfish, soft little baby compared to us. " when the huge guy screamed again; half in their heads yeah but outside too.

        Almost there.

        Pull. Push with your fucking legs too and get 'em free! Rip his fucking fingers off if you gotta!

                   But the Soldier was right when he pitched in at that laugh that well: ...the thumb is the problem. Always is..

            NOT. HELPING.

   Kick, and: throw in that girl because he thinks he can fight me still? Oh fuck off you grape skank. Throw in recognizing Natasha long after he'd sniped her from right over her shoulder. The look on her face in the scope. The look on her face trying not to think about it when they'd met again.

         Harder kick, maybe fracturing a few ribs? No; but definitely getting the air out of his lungs with that wide eyed stare and wheezing forced out-breath.

    Purple faces? Apparently could turn blue too.

             Pull! Kick .........harder!

        Blood and knifed flesh and the view of victim after victim among the close-range kills and watching their last breaths so he knew they were dead and no ability to care whether they were innocent or guilty or neither or just in the way and:

F I N A L L Y.

   Buck almost fell back into the grass when the final digit came loose on the sickening to everyone else who usually heard it sound of the last tendon and skin ripping free in his smoking hand. But shit, and his arm was glowing purple and burning and he had to drop that one fast just like Wrath had said. And, they were moving too.. the people he knew, who this asshole had all but turned into statues around them after Wrath had been knocked loose snatching the Red one. Starting to move with that second scream and the writhe and suddenly angry wiggle focusing in what he knew was a pain-daze of angry and dangerous proportions zeroing in on the glowstone he'd dropped in the dirt to not burn to death.

Focus on it like he said; on the other one: the Blue one and that face, those eyes before his metal fingers cooled; quick! Before they got around and got him where Thanos couldn't!

            Blue. Blue.

         To blue eyes, through a blue gemstone. Pale ice and bright sapphire.

               That smile.

                       Raven's wings still in his hair, a century later.

          That sound: still in his voice. Dragged down and floundering a little over the years but still love.

                  Still hearing him talking about that brick house and the stable in Westchester County between Kilsby and Hillmorton. The idea of teaching him, teaching Buck to ride. Back, back between the fields just close enough to Rains Brook to see the strip of water cutting through. The sound when he talked about the place along the Tay River too. Bringing Steve with if all three of them survived the War. The silly way he ate scones. In a weird, slow circle of little bites between cups-full of tea or coffee; nibbling inwards. Like some kind of chipmunk or squirrel, or some shit.

   Lost his focus for a moment, laughing about that in particular; again almost hysterical: the hiccup coming out between just that once making his whole torso feel briefly folded inwards remembering the fact Wrath actually blushed when called out on his weird pastry-eating habits. More when he caught him distractedly doing the same damned thing with potatoes.

         Catching his working, human hand palm first on the metal floor under his knees; still smoking and pretty sure he had screwed up enough to end up dead. Because of scones. Because of fucking... wait.

                 Metal floor? Under his fingers and under his brow and yeah that wasn't the grass and sticks and ferns he'd pretty much been standing in beating the shit out of an eight foot slurpee colored murder machine outside and in while he'd been in recovery mode. In the woods.

        Not, in the woods? " ....hoh shit, I might puke. " Definitely not in the woods any more. Pretty sure using the blue rock, worked. Because trying to focus his eyes made him go dizzy and put him right back down at that curl against the floor; just so his stomach wouldn't end up spewed across it to land in either. Noise started to come in though, a lot of noise. People. Some kind of announcements in almost British accents somewhere above his head as extra white noise.

   Good sign maybe. Scared and backed off and okay he could make out the shadows of their feet shuffling back real quick. Which with the flip his stomach was doing after the attempt to stand? Was probably a good idea. That and.. though distant as the apparent crowd they had landed in got really quiet really fast? He could still feel that purple asshole trying feebly to scrabble at the edges of their brain. Still getting the mental boot to the face now that they realized it.. but yeah. He couldn't keep that up forever. " WRATH!? "

   Quieted the dark blurry ring of people down again. Then again he could feel the burn still. Arm was cooling still. He was probably smoking, no scratch that he could smell it; definitely smoking when he'd yanked his head up off the floor to bellow out that call. It was also the only one he could manage like that, at that decibel. And getting weaker towards normal, exhausted levels " Wrath .. did it! Got 'im.. them... "

            " Bucky... what the hell! " Steve..? Oh man that better be Steve and not pillow-head fucking with his perceptions.

      Thought he heard a few others chime in while he was still trying to divide his attention between the fight in his head and the search for the only two people that could get him out of it. " Look at his eyes! Most of you know what that means. Stay, back. " and there they were. He heard him wondering, with that breath in while he closed in. Put his palm to his forehead. Pulled and supported it trying to get at his eyes. " James. Is it safe. "

                                   Silence. Almost. The rush of people murmuring behind and in front of him.

                                      The dizziness of searching for those eyes. For confirmation.

                                            The burn of the weight still making his left arm sizzle. Pop, even.

                                                        He could still taste metal vapor in his mouth.

                                                             Wasn't sure if he could open that hand.

                                                                     Thumb at one temple. The grip across his forehead.

                                                                             Like a crown of stretched fingers. Around what's his.

                                                                                                                                             " James. Is it, safe. "

                                                                                                   There. Steel blue eyes. Bits of pale green.

                          Raven's wings in his hair and lashes.                         

There he is. Swallow the vapor back. Have to answer.

                                                                  " Close.. close call. But... "

        And, barely lifting his melted-together fist to let it thump against the floor; bloody tracks where he had ripped Thanos' fingers and thumb off with his vibranium arm to get at and divide the Eco-freak from what was --technically still-- on them. " ..Yeah. Wrath, I'm still safe. He's a pussy. " made him smile, made that grey-blue pair of eyes turn and glare that grin into someone to Wrath's left with a clear stabbing of delivered pride. " I just.. help, please? " brought those eyes back to him. " ...I spanked his ass like the shitty kid he is but Wrath.. he's still trying; and the others were waking up: gonna defend him, get me when .. the blink happened? "

         " Khorosho. Good. " and " I'll fix it; and your arm, over time. They aren't likely to leave without him; but they'll try to monitor where we go. " made him breath easier, even as he could feel those fingers wrapped around his crown leading like fangs after what connections Thanos had established. His eyes started to clear a little more. He could see Steve in his peripherals. Natasha, and T'Challa and Thor too. All staring at him from some kind of futuristic looking table-thing raised up above his current level on his knees. " Speaking of. Right now we have to get their attention and get the hell out of Terran space. Did you manage something other than Space? "

       " I had.. I had to drop the purple one; like you said. " had Steve stepping down as Buck refocused on Wrath's face; on the eyes focusing back on him. "  It's what .. melted my arm from the elbow down. Almost ate me, even still in the glove.. "

          " I can tell. You're still smoking. What else did you get? Any of them? " And, popping; apparently.

       " I think... it was the green one? "

   Relief, more pride. Because of him." Time. Well done, Love. " seemed to be a good answer with his nod. A turn of Wrath's head. That other smile; the cold one. The one that said he was happy but hungry and he'd eat anything in the way of what he wanted. Tanks, forty seven millimetr rounds. Germans and HYDRA and stupid baby-brained pillow-heads too.  " Mother! Change of directions; once we've finished drilling the Mare loose and attached to the Fae for tow, prepare a course for Titan first. I don't want him beating us to Stephen or Anthony while we're making nice with what's left of Xandar, with that Stone back in hand. Change the announcements appropriately. We won't be engaging them with live pilots; not unless we have to: but that doesn't mean they won't still need the education. "

              'Understood. All pilots: deployment orders have been temporarily revoked. Continue virtual drills and testing in case of further change. All hands and residents: prepare for Lunar Detachment. Stabilizers are in place; however tremors are still expected. Remain in your designated areas to maintain safety during launch. '

      " ...I'm sorry excuse me?! Did she just say Lunar Detatchment!? " from what briefly looked like a talking raccoon made Buck laugh a little again as he finally started to feel that bastard Thanos' last influence being peeled out of his head between Loki's fingers.

                   " Well what else did you think I brought them or you all up here for anyway? Am I just going to leave it all and them, here to fend for themselves after the bother?  I told you we weren't using the ships... and what would even the Fae do with this much crew, in reflection... for Maker's sake. Catch on. Of course we're taking the whole bloody Mare with us. I'm not leaving my doors to that insane jackass! "

      But it was " Bridger! You and Butters take Sergeant Barnes-- " that Bucky passed out on with a smile into that hand before hearing the rest.

   Maybe it was a dream; hearing those last two names alone.

 Maybe all of that had been some crazy, tank-fire-in-the-night riled up nightmare?

      Honestly though: Buck didn't care.

                  Not so long as at least Wrath was there with him, with them; when he woke up...

                                                                                                                                    ...and even better, if Steve was there too.

                                         Bucky had a lot to tell them both.

                                                         When the War was over... he still wanted to go to Westchester with them both.

                                                                                                   When the War was over? He still wanted to go to Scotland too; see the Tay.