Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes
Additional Tags: Road Trips, Fluff, Nature, Memories, Married Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Deserves Nice Things, Travel
Bucky, in a 5-dollar GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK t-shirt and a smile on his face, is twice as gorgeous as any sunlit sky.
The Grand Canyon is Steve and Bucky's oldest dream.
The Grand Canyon stretches out forever.
Steve's enjoyed he and Bucky's road trip so far. They've eaten far too many granola bars, sampled ice cream at every state (Bucky's a sucker for it) and bought a wide variety of postcards. Bucky sends a new one to Sam and Natasha for each location.
Tony lent them a Chevy for the trip. In the back is a mattress where they curl up together on nights they don't feel like finding a hotel. They've got Polaroids from Steve's recent dabbling in photography strung up on fairy lights inside. Steve's more of a motorcycle guy, but he'll miss the van when they have to give it back.
But really it's the Grand Canyon he's been looking forward to. He and Bucky sit together, looking out at the endless sea of rocky mountains. The rocks are a rainbow of orange and amber and burnt, beautiful red. The river glimmers between the stones, a thin trickle of quicksilver.
For so long Steve's life was a series of greys and blues. His muted, SHIELD-issued apartment. His endless array of plain clothing, chosen to help him blend in. The long days he'd spend in bed, unable to get up, unable to eat, unable to do anything but long for a home that didn't exist anymore.
A home he hadn't thought existed anymore, until Bucky turned up at his apartment, after the Helicarrier and the fall of SHIELD, clutching a photograph he'd stolen from the Smithsonian and a scrapbook of newspaper headlines.
Now Steve's life is coloured with warmth. The sunlight that tumbles through the window as he and Bucky neck on the couch. The chestnut curls Steve braids before bed, still warm from the hairdryer. The sunflowers growing on their windowsill. The creamy soup Bucky cooks on the stove. The oil paints Steve buys in deep, bold colours: scarlet, amber, emerald. He never thought life would feel so saturated.
He loves seeing Bucky like this, too. The sunset casts his hair in beautiful, faded gold. Bucky, in a 5-dollar GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK t-shirt and a smile on his face, is twice as gorgeous as any sunlit sky.
“You ever think we'd get here?” Bucky murmurs.
He could be talking about the Grand Canyon. He could be talking about the future. He could be talking about them: in love and admitting it, married in a world that allows that to happen.
Steve answers honestly. “Not since we were kids,” he says.
The war took a lot from him. The ice that held him under took even more. But the 21st century has been unexpectedly, belatedly kind to him. Steve knows now that he's received a privilege not many people do: the chance to live twice.
Bucky leans his head against Steve's shoulder. Their hands find one another's; their fingers intertwine. They sit together at the edge of the world.
Steve touches his knee to Bucky's. “I love you,” he says. He wishes he was better with words sometimes; thinks I love you feels too easy to say. But then loving Bucky is easy. Steve's been doing it his whole life.
“I love you more,” Bucky says. He hooks a finger into the neckline of Steve's shirt to pull it back and kiss the constellation of freckles on Steve's shoulder. It's one of Bucky's favourite places to kiss. He hasn't said it, but Steve thinks it's because, out of all the things the serum changed about him, that patch of freckles stayed the same.
Then he moves to kiss Steve's neck, his jaw, his cheek, until Steve's laughing and pushing him away.
“You wanna watch the stars with me tonight?” Bucky asks as the sun dips lower in the sky.
Steve smiles. “Nothing I wanna do more."
