[team one] promises kept
~500 words of a larger stucky what if avengers endgame au. g-rated.
“Bit of both, actually.”
“Both?” Bucky came in, sitting next to Peter opposite Steve. “Both of what?”
“Bucky!” Peter grinned. “I was just telling st- I mean Cap- I mean-”
“Steve.”
His and Steve’s voices echoed and Bucky turned to meet Steve’s eyes, sharing a grin.
“Steve,” Peter repeated a small grin of his own plastered on his face. “I was telling Steve how we got the stones back!”
“A time heist?” Steve voiced his incredulity. “Actual time travel? With magic?”
“And science!” Peter grinned. “It was so cool! Wanda and Dr. Strange had all these theories, I’ll have to see if they kept their notes”
“Time travel,” Steve said again, his grin growing. “Wow.”
“It wasn't all fun and games,” Bucky knew that grin. “We couldn’t change anything. So no extra World Series for the Dodgers.”
“The Los Angeles Dodgers?” Peter’s brow furrowed. “The baseball team?”
Bucky groaned.
Steve laughed. “Kid, you have no idea how much you hurt him.”
“Oops? Sorry.” Peter raised his hands. “ But um. Yeah. We couldn’t really change history. As soon as everyone has rested, Bucky’s going to put the stones all back. Especially the one we got off the Valkyrie and-”
“Peter!”
“Bucky?”
Peter stopped talking between Bucky’s harsh reprimand and Steve’s question. “You know what? I think I’m gonna go see if Wanda has those notes. I think she might be nicer about it than Strange. And then I’m gonna go talk to Tony and be like, anywhere but here. See ya later!”
He ran off faster than Bucky thought he could, leaving him alone with his best friend who was starting to put the pieces together.
“An infinity stone from the Valkyrie- kid was talking about the Tesseract, wasn’t he?”
“Yep.”
No point in denying it. Steve would have figured it out one way or another. Bucky looked down at his mismatched hands, folding them together.
“So… I wasn’t hallucinating.”
A hand reached out and landed on top of Bucky’s hands. Thanks to Shuri’s technology, Bucky could feel the warmth seeping in through both palms.
"You were there. This-- Was that why you cut your hair?"
Bucky shook his head. "Nah. Wanda helped tidy it up. Told her I wanted to look good for my best guy-- for when you got back." He looked up at Steve's face, finding hope in the fondness of blue eyes.
“Buck, you have no idea how much I thought I-” Steve squeezed Bucky’s metal hand. “I thought I was seeing your ghost or something…”
Bucky tried to grin. “Nah. That came later when we met on the bridge in DC.”
“Buck…” Steve half groaned. “Not funny.”
“I know.” Bucky squeezed Steve’s hand back. “But yeah. Sam and Wanda were there too technically. I just- I didn’t want you to be alone.”
“Thanks, Buck.”
“Always.”
“And that dance you promised?”
Bucky’s head jerked up. “Huh? Oh…” He hadn’t forgotten, but he had wondered if Steve would have-
“You didn’t think I’d forgotten did you?”
“Well….”
“You jerk!” Steve’s voice grew louder in mock outrage.
“You haven’t brought it up before!”
“I thought you were a ghost before!”
“Well, I’m not now!” Bucky huffed, unable to hold back a grin. Steve was back. Steve was back! He’d never be so grateful for this moment.
Steve laughed, then stood up from the table. “Better late than never.” He held out his hand. “May I have this dance?”
Bucky chuckled, shaking his head but taking Steve’s hand anyway. “You can’t dance without music, punk”
Next up is Nichi with "You can't dance without music, punk." I'll tag you on discord!