Epilogue

chicklette:

The final installment of the soulmates au inspired by @frostbitebakery and her gorgeous art. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Six
years later…

The lights of the city glitter and shine from
Steve’s vantage point at Avenger’s Tower.  He thinks back to when he was a
kid, how big the city seemed to him then, and just how small it feels now.
 Maybe that’s why they shine their lights so bright: they’re trying to be
bigger than they are.

He might know the feeling.

As much as he was starting to get used to his
size before the Valkyrie, he never really had the chance to settle in.
 First he was on stage and then he was at war.  There wasn’t much downtime, either way.

Now that he has settled in, he’s had time to
admire the many upgrades: easy breathing and stamina for days.  The
ability to see every color.  He inhabits
his body in ways he couldn’t before the serum.
They’re on the same team now; they’re no longer fighting one another.
 

It’s made all the difference.

Well, not all the difference.

---

A timer beeps behind him and he goes to the
kitchen to check on dinner.  It’s nothing fancy, just some seared salmon,
seasoned baby potatoes, cauliflower steaks, and salad.  A pint of ice
cream in the freezer for later.

Earlier in the day, he caught a spike of
excitement as he sat reading the paper.  He’s not sure what it was about,
but he’s willing to bet that his husband will be both late coming home from
work, and talking a mile a minute once he does come home.

When they first got together, when they first
brought Steve back, the scientists and SHIELD asked to study him and Bucky
both, trying to figure out their connection, how they’d become bonded across
time.  Steve tolerated it only as long as it took for Bucky to be
uncomfortable.  At the end of the day, it
wasn’t their job to play lab rat to satisfy someone’s curiosity.  

Besides, as much as they knew each other, they
didn’t really know one another at all.

It took them some time to figure things out.
 

Once he was given the medical okay, the Army
released Steve from service, and, with what he suspected was some nudging from
SHIELD, a substantial amount of back pay.  Since he’d gone down during
active duty, the Army considered him an MIA POW and compensated him
appropriately.

Fury at SHIELD asked him to serve, and he’d
agreed, working out of their New York offices so that Bucky could stay with SI.
 His first meeting with Tony Stark had been contentious, but after the
Chitauri invasion, they’d brokered a necessary peace.  Truth be told,
Steve thought Tony was worth ten of his old man, but there wasn’t enough booze
in Manhattan to loosen his tongue enough to say so.  Tony’s head was already big enough.

Still, when Tony mentioned the helicarriers and
then Fury showed them off, Steve began to quietly investigate Project Insight.
 After the attempt on Fury’s life and the realization that Hydra was still
a going concern, Steve was devastated.

“It was all for nothing,” Steve railed, pacing
back and forth in their little Brooklyn flat.  “Countless men died, I died, I sacrificed everything, and it was for nothing!”

Bucky sucked a deep breath and Steve caught a shock wave of hurt as it rippled through his core.

“Shit,” Steve said.  “No.”  He turned to Bucky and took him in his arms,
pressing their foreheads together.  “I’m sorry,” Steve said, but Bucky
demurred, ducking away from Steve’s hold.

“Just-” Bucky holds a hand out, staying Steve
from coming near.

When Steve reached out, he couldn’t feel anything
from Bucky, and the absence was like missing a lung: it became very hard to
breathe.

“Do you regret it?” Bucky asked, turning and
looking at Steve head on.  “I know you loved her, Steve.  I know.  Do you regret it?”

“Jesus Christ, no. No.  Bucky, no.” The
thought – the idea – that Bucky might think that Steve had regrets about not
living out his life with Peggy was a punch to the guts that Steve couldn’t
shake.  Yes, he’d loved Peggy, but Bucky?  Bucky’s his life.  Bucky is the reason that Steve spent seventy years
packed in ice.  Bucky isn’t the reason
that Steve fights, but he’s the reason that Steve fights to come home again. He
is Steve’s home.

Yes, he loved Peggy.  He would never deny that.  But what he has with Bucky?  What he has with Bucky transcends time.  Nothing else compares.

Bucky stared at him a moment and then closed his
eyes, letting his emotions free again.  Steve felt the hurt, the pain, but
under all of that, he felt the understanding.

It remains the only real fight they’ve had in
six years.

In the end, Maria came up with a plan for disabling
the helicarriers that was relatively simple, especially once Sam (of all
people) threw his hat in the ring to help.  With Bucky at SI working with
Tony’s state of the art equipment, and Sam and Natasha backing him up, Steve
had the helicarriers down before Pierce knew what hit him.

Sometimes when he’s feeling low and petty, Steve
takes comfort in knowing that Pierce saw his plan fail just before
he died.  But only sometimes.

After that, moving to Avenger’s Tower was a
simple decision.  Bucky works there, and his neighbors are all
Avengers.  They understand the occasional
alien invasion or visiting god.

All things considered, Steve is content with his
life.  He’s happy. It’s not something he ever thought he’d have.

The ding of the elevator door draws Steve from
his thoughts.  As predicted, Bucky is over an hour late and is grinning
like the cat who got the cream.

“Alright,” Steve says, opening his arms.  “Tell me all about it.”  

Bucky flies into his arms, nestling his nose
right into the crook of Steve’s neck and breathing deep.  He presses a soft kiss there, before pulling
back to grin at Steve.

Steve can feel the happiness, excitement, coming
off of Bucky in waves.   It’s beautiful,
just like Bucky is beautiful.  His short,
dark hair is fluffy on top from where he’s been running his fingers through it,
and his chameleon eyes shine a bright, light blue.  Unable to help himself, Steve tips his head
down to capture Bucky’s mouth in a light, lingering kiss.

Bucky answers with a playful nip of Steve’s
bottom lip, and from there they trade kisses until the mood becomes heated, until
Steve is carrying Bucky into the bedroom, with Bucky’s legs locked around Steve’s
waist.

“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” Steve
says, tilting his head to let Bucky get at his neck.  He smiles as Bucky sucks hard, knowing the
mark will last at least an hour at this rate.

Laying Bucky onto the bed, Steve crawls over
him, fingers unbuttoning Bucky’s shirt, mouth blazing a trail down Bucky’s
torso.

“Steve,” Bucky gasps, as Steve draws his teeth
over Bucky’s hipbones.  

“I know, sweetheart,” Steve says.  “I’ve got you, honey.”

Steve can feel Bucky melt at the pet names, and
it spikes his own desire further.  He
will always be amazed that this beautiful man is his, that he lived two
lifetimes so that he could have this lifetime, this life, with Bucky.

When he looks up, Bucky is smiling down at him,
that soft, sweet smile that lights Steve up from the inside.  

“I love you,” Bucky mouths, and Steve is hit
with it, hard.  His emotions combine with
Bucky’s until the two of them are bathed in it, the soft, gentle, sure glow of
their love.

It’s more than he ever thought he would have,
and he’s holding onto it, every last bit.

Later, they’ll eat the meal that Steve’s
prepared for them, and Bucky will go on and on about something called nanotechnology
and Steve will smile and nod, thrilled that Bucky is so excited, so happy.  After, Steve will sketch as Bucky works over
his newest project, and around midnight, Steve will drag a pouting Bucky to bed,
where he’ll fall asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.

For now though, he’s going to show Bucky how
much he’s loved.  Show him, and show him,
and show him again.  Whatever it takes. For
the rest of his life.  Whatever it takes.

This is Steve Rogers in the 21^st
century.  

This is Steve Rogers in love.