[Things were different before the war. Steve'd had too much to prove, whether he ever admitted it or not, and there was a lot he didn't know or just plain hadn't thought about. And if Bucky had been too damned scared, Steve had been too damned angry, and too busy fighting all the world to stop and think.
But he's older now. They both are.]
Do they know that?
[He pulls back to look at Buck's face as he says it, laughing at him from just a few inches away. Less.
And then the laughter fades from his face and Steve swallows, because Bucky is right there. That face is as familiar as anything Steve knows in the world and more loved than he'd ever be able to put in words, not if he lives for ten times a hundred years.
He doesn't even mean to do it. He's thought of it a thousand times, more, wondered if a good time would ever come around and told himself over and over that it doesn't matter, that the only thing that matters is that Bucky is alive, safe, sane. And it's true, that's most of what Steve needs, just to know that fixed point in his world is out there.
It's not all he wants, though, which is how he ends up crossing those few inches of distance and brushing his mouth over Bucky's, and it's soft and it's light and it's happening before he even realizes he's doing it.]
no subject
But he's older now. They both are.]
Do they know that?
[He pulls back to look at Buck's face as he says it, laughing at him from just a few inches away. Less.
And then the laughter fades from his face and Steve swallows, because Bucky is right there. That face is as familiar as anything Steve knows in the world and more loved than he'd ever be able to put in words, not if he lives for ten times a hundred years.
He doesn't even mean to do it. He's thought of it a thousand times, more, wondered if a good time would ever come around and told himself over and over that it doesn't matter, that the only thing that matters is that Bucky is alive, safe, sane. And it's true, that's most of what Steve needs, just to know that fixed point in his world is out there.
It's not all he wants, though, which is how he ends up crossing those few inches of distance and brushing his mouth over Bucky's, and it's soft and it's light and it's happening before he even realizes he's doing it.]