An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Howling Commandos Additional Tags: Wedding Fluff, brief angst, Blink and you'll miss it, Fix-It Summary:
Steve and Bucky get married over and over and over again.
September 15th, 1944
âThe fuck you want, Dugan?â Bucky groaned as the man unceremoniously shoved into his tent.
âGet your dress uniform on, asshole,â Dum Dum responded in kind, shoving the offending item toward him.
âWhat, the damn President came to see Steve again ? Doesnât he have an actual job to do?â He grumbled but he stripped down, pulling on the more meticulous uniform without a care in the world of the other man still standing there. There was no privacy in war. And despite his whining, it was clear that, as âCaptain Americaâs best friend,â he was well aware he was the one most likely to accompany the man for his more formal assignments.
âKeeping an eye on the two of you seems to be a full-time job.â
Bucky socked him in the shoulder and Dugan laughed, nudging at his socked feet with his own. âGet your damn shoes on and come on.â
Bucky was still grumbling as he followed his friend out, glancing around their campsite for a sighting of Steve but he mustâve already gotten a ride back to base without him. He made a mental note to give him hell for leaving without so much as a heads-up, even if he knew sometimes these things were sudden. They started walking through the woods but when Dugan didnât turn to head towards the clearing, he raised an eyebrow.
âFDR hanging around in the middle of the woods?â He asked, getting suspicious now but not on guard. Dugan was a friend - he wouldnât try anything.
âYouâre the one who decided you were important enough to go hang out with the President today. I didnât confirm it,â Dugan pointed out with a shrug.
âI didnât⊠oh fuck off,â he huffed with a laugh. âFor your information, Iâve been important enough to hang out with the President twice.â
âYouâve been important enough to be Steveâs plus-one while he hung out with the President twice.â
âSame thing.â
âIs not!â
âHow the hell is it not? I didnât see you hanging around with us.â
âWouldnât hurt the two of you to play nice every once in a while,â Jimâs voice came from ahead of them. He became visible through the trees a few moments later and Bucky stopped short.
âWouldnât hurt the two of you to explain what the hell is going on,â he said, his voice firm. Heâd been dragged out into the middle of the woods in his nice uniform just for one of their teammates to already be way out here?
âHold your fire, Cowboy. Youâll find out in a couple minutes,â Dugan huffed, hand clapping him on the back.
Bucky only followed because he trusted these men with his life already and he figured he could afford to trust them in their bullshit as well. And if for some wild reason they were luring him out to kill him, well, he trusted Steve to get vengeance.
It was unnecessary, as a few minutes later, they wandered into a different clearing that was much further from their campsite than the first one. But there were people this time - Gabe, Jacques, Montgomery. And Steve, also in his dress uniform, looking just as confused and probably just as frustrated as Bucky did.
âWe know you two went out and bought rings in the city a few weeks ago,â Gabe explained. âAnd probably did something already to exchange them.â
Bucky stared across the way at Steve and wondered if he looked as pale as the blonde did, losing all color at being caught. The guys had known they were together, theyâd never seemed to have a problem with it before. They teased them, sure, but it had all been in good fun. Or so theyâd thought. But maybe theyâd gone too far now, upsetting their beliefs on the sanctity of marriage.
âYou should marry me, Buck.â
âStop fucking with me.â
âI ainât! I mean it. Marry me.â
âWhat priest do you think is stupid enough to do something like that?â
âWe donât need a priest. Just me and you, maybe a couple of cheap rings. I donât want to have any regrets.â
â...ask me properly.â
Steve grinned, easily slipping down to one knee in the middle of their tent.
âYou gonna marry me, Buck?â
âTry again.â
âBucky! Marry me, damn it.â
âNot a question,â Bucky pointed out.
They were both laughing hard at this point, Steveâs forehead pressed to Buckyâs thigh as his body shook with laughter.
âYou gonna try that again?â Bucky asked, the first one to catch his breath.
âOh Buck, Iâll ask over and over and over again.â
Montgomery walked towards him with something behind his back and Bucky took a few steps backwards until he was stopped by Dugan. But it hadnât been a knife or a weapon of any sort - Montgomery pinned a flower to his chest before turning and walking towards Steve, presumably to do the same.
âBut we couldnât let you guys get married in secret - itâs supposed to be a celebration,â Gabe continued.
âSo if you boys donât mind,â Dugan said from behind him, throwing one arm around Buckyâs shoulders while he pulled out a small Bible. âWe went ahead and planned your wedding for you.â
Montgomery produced a few more wildflowers and pretty weeds, spacing them out carefully to resemble two parallel lines for an aisle. Someone had carried a record player all the way out here and Jacques was holding the camera their photographer used to shoot their commercials and advertisements. Bucky raised an eyebrow at it and he shrugged with a smile.
âHe âforgotâ it and will be back to get it first thing in the morning,â he explained. Bucky laughed quietly, at the camera, at the record player, at all the nonsense around them.
Steve was only looking at him though, as if trying to figure out how he was feeling about all this. He approached Bucky, keeping about a foot of space between them.
âWe donât have to do this, Buck,â he said quietly to him. It was clear Steve hadnât been in on this. âIt wonât change anything, we can just keep it between us.â
Bucky glanced around before shaking his head.
âWhy not? They went through all this trouble already,â he pointed out.
âAnd the trouble of getting both of you a day of leave without you finding out about it,â Jim added, nobody even pretending to give the two of them a semblance of privacy. The couple both laughed even if it was the kindest thing they couldâve imagined their teammates doing for them.
âWell we canât take a honeymoon without a wedding,â Steve pointed out with a smirk, slipping his dog tags off of his neck. He undid the clasp and pulled the ring off of it and Bucky quickly followed his lead, both of them swapping the rings back to their purchaser.
âYou gonna marry me, Buck?â
âIâll happily marry you over and over and over again.â
The ceremony was short and sweet, bypassing a lot of the fanfare. It wasnât a traditional wedding, after all, and Dugan certainly wasnât ordained. But they both said âI doâ and then explained that theyâd already exchanged private vows so their vows to each other this time were quite short.
âIâm with you âtil the end of the line, Buck,â Steve said quietly as he took Buckyâs left hand and slid his ring on.
âIâm with you âtil the end of the line, Doll,â Bucky repeated, copying his motions of sliding Steveâs ring on.
The boys groaned at the common phrase between the two, having heard their phrase for âI love youâ way too often.
âWell what are you waiting for? Kiss your groom, dammit,â Dugan encouraged, stepping out of the way to join the boys. Theyâd never properly kissed in front of the team - maybe something quick and chaste when reunited after a particularly hard fight - but now, Bucky cupped Steveâs cheeks in his hands and eagerly kissed him. Steveâs hands wrapped around his waist, one quickly shifting up to the top of his back, and he dipped Bucky.
Steve publicly danced for the first time while Montgomery cranked the record player and Bucky had to snicker the fourth time his foot was stepped on. Steve was a bit pink as he apologized and Bucky shook his head, leaning in to kiss him once more.
âItâs worth it,â he whispered.
Later that evening, they were all settled around the fire. Steve sat on the ground with his legs spread, Bucky tucked against him with his back to Steveâs chest.
âGuys, I just, I wanted to thank you..â Bucky started, grabbing everyoneâs attention. âFor this, for everything, but especially for not letting Steve get married in that damn Captain America uniform.â
They all laughed and even Steve was a good sport about it.Â
Four photos were taken that day - one of the kiss, one of them dancing, one at the campfire laughing, and one of the two sitting side by side away from the group, Buckyâs head on Steveâs shoulder. They had carefully tucked them away with Steveâs stuff before they left for their thirty-six hour honeymoon and the rings were placed back onto dog tags and slipped under shirts.
Exactly four months later, to the day, Bucky ziplined onto a train and never made his way back to camp that night.
Exactly five months later, to the day, Steveâs plane filled with icy water with him still inside.
September 15, 2024
Exactly nine-hundred sixty months later, to the dayâŠ
A metal hand held the edge of a framed photo of them kissing. The photo was worn, torn at the edges and scarred with time. He mustâve been sitting there for a while because at some point, the bed dipped beside him with Steveâs weight and the man gently pried the frame from his fingers to knock him out of his daze.
âYou good?â Steve asked quietly. Bucky nodded, leaning into Steveâs side carefully. They were both dressed to the nines in perfectly tailored three-piece suits and he didnât want to hear it if they messed anything up. Bucky was also in a new multi- billion dollar arm, this one equipped with a tiny metal buffer on the left ring finger that could go up and down. If it was up, itâd be barely visible, but it would allow a ring to stay on with no concerns about it sliding off. It was a new feature to his arm, one last barrier to today being conquered.
There had been a million things in the way of the two of them and a proper, legal wedding. The law, first off. And then death. Steveâs loneliness, Buckâs brainwashing. Years in Wakanda, fighting Thanos, Buck disappearing for five years, fighting Thanos again. Steve had suffered being apart much more than Bucky had; first when he had fallen to his death only inches away from his hand then knowing he was alive but not being able to help him. Steve had been the one to suffer from Bucky vanishing, five long years without him. And Steve had again felt the loss when he spent so long trying to get the stones back where they belonged while Bucky waited five seconds. Five precious, short seconds until his lover reappeared on the same platform, a bit wobbly as he stumbled over to Bucky and held him for all he was worth. And then he kissed him breathless in front of Sam and Bruce both.
And in Steveâs opinion, Bucky had served his time and done his own suffering. He was a little fragile these days and eagerly accepted every ounce of attention Steve gave him. So Steve was grateful that if one of them had to feel the misery of being apart, it had been him and not Bucky.
And today was the last step. Today they got married in front of all of their friends for the second time. It was extravagant, Tony had made sure of that, but it was still private - there were no cameras other than the singular photographer theyâd hired to document the day. After all, they were retiring and they needed some photos to decorate the walls of their new quiet home. But before they could do that, somebody had to walk down that aisle.
âHappy 80th Anniversary, Buck,â Steve murmured, kissing the top of his head. âYou really gonna marry me?â
âOver and over and over again,â Bucky promised.

















