Yasha exhaled slowly just as Steve surged forward, hitting him like (ha) a freight train. He felt himself melt right into those familiar arms, relief pounding thick and heady through his veins as the reality of what had just happened set in. He answered Steve’s kiss almost clumsily, adrenaline still high and heart slamming a staccato rhythm between them. “Styopa,” he sighed into his husband’s mouth, hand sliding up the back of Steve’s neck to grip him close. “My god, Styopa,” he breathed, a shudder running through him as he pulled back to press their foreheads together.
He lingered for a bit before he finally pulled back, aware that they had an audience. But Shuri was smiling at them, her expression pleased and eyes a little glassy. Apparently even she wasn’t willing to tease them right then. “Thank you,” Yasha told her, voice coming low and croaky. Her smile widened further—though with an apologetic, nervous edge he hadn’t anticipated.
“Of course, of course. I knew it would work, but—anyway.” She bit her lip, glancing away towards the room’s glowing screens and back again. “Should we… test any of the other triggers?” she asked, uncharacteristically skirting around what she wanted to say.
Though Yasha had a pretty good idea. He glanced at Steve’s expression, somewhat unsure how he’d react.
Steve nodded slowly, as if he had to confirm to both of them that yes, it was real, and yes, it was over. He breathed in deeply as their foreheads rested together, air mingling between their lips that had just touched – and that was only the start, because there was no way he would be content with just one kiss. It had been long enough that shivers ran up his spine and he idly noted how warm Yasha was, no signs of ever being frozen.
It took all of his – notably poor – self-control to let them break apart, eyes still on Yasha as he talked to the princess. It was only when her voice came out hesitant that Steve turned to look at Shuri and the suggestion, however soft-spoken, had him clenching his jaw. He made sure to look away so she wouldn’t think that his annoyance was directed at her rather than at the situation.
“We should. Doesn’t make me want to,” he said with a sigh, stepping back. “But we should.” He glanced at Yasha, fingers brushing over the back of his hand before he opened the book once more.
Each word came with a new sense of relief, before turning to a hint of dread at the next one. It became more and more unlikely that any of them would work and Steve felt his confidence building up until they reached the last trigger word, signaled as ‘USE ONLY IF ALL ELSE FAILS. COMPLETE TERMINATION’. His lips trembled as he silently formed it, a feeble attempt to reduce its power once he said it out loud.
“Are you sure…?” He asked over his shoulder, searching for Shuri’s steady presence nearby.
“Yes, Captain. We’re positive that it won’t have any effect, but in the hypothetical event that it does, we have the means for a full reanimation.” Seeing the look in his eyes, she added, “Trust me, the Soviets don’t have what we do.”
Well, that didn’t completely soothe his worries, but they hadn’t failed so far and the word actually had never been used. It couldn’t slip through their meticulous deprogramming and as soon as he said it, those phantoms of the past would finally vanish.
A deep breath, the book dropped down to the table. Steve leaned closer to his husband and stroked his cheek, eyes locked on his face. “Sputnik.”