life (you only get one of them): chapter 1
-or, zindagi na milengi dobara au
i would like everyone to know that this was meant to be a bullet fic, and then eva got me super excited and now its,,,not a bullet fic its got 5 parts (tentatively) so @icarustarks hope you like it hun (consider this a super late birthday gift)
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also tagging @spiderrpcrker because she sent me an ask about the exact same idea
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Summary: in college, Steve, Sam and Bucky made a promise. 3 weeks, 3 activities, 3 boys and the country of Spain. 15 years later, Sam is getting married and its time for them to make good on that promise, to give him the send-off of the century. But between Sam’s conflicted feelings over his engagement, unresolved tension that threatens to break up the trio; Bucky’s secret agenda and Steve’s workaholic tendencies - it definitely promises to be a trip they’ll never forget
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10
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“You’re getting married,” Steve says again - breathing through his nose to calm himself down, “It is the most important financial quarter of the year and you want me to take three whole weeks off because you decided, on a whim to get married”
“It wasn’t a - “ there’s a groan on the other line, “look its really complicated but yes, I’m engaged and I’m getting married to Nat and you promised Steve. I haven’t seen you in ages man - I miss you”
Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, “Is Bucky going to be there?”
He hears a snort, “Is Bucky - your bestfriend and my roommate, going to be there? Yeah Steve he’s going to be there”
“I can’t be around him Sam, you know this, you know what went down between us”
“Funny that,” Sam says, a cutting edge in his voice, “ because I don’t remember you ever telling me what happened between you guys. I just remember you showing up one night at my apartment with your clothes washed out by the rain and staying on my couch for a week. Steve - you owe me”
Steve throws his head back, before opening his laptop and pulling up his calendar, “I’ll see what I can do”
He waits for Sam’s whoop of joy before cutting the line, and starts flipping through his calendar - but he knows he’s going
Sam’s right, he hadn’t seen him for almost a year, and he even missed the Wilsons’ anniversary dinner. He owed Sam, even if it meant putting up with Bucky for a whole three weeks
On the other end of the call - Sam waits until the phone clicks to send a pointed look to the man standing next to him
Bucky whistles lowly, “you got him to agree”
Sam puts the phone down and starts folding his clothes, systematically moving aside various parts of Bucky’s body to spread his clothes out on the bed
“Despite what you think,” Sam says dryly, “Steve does have a heart”
“Oh I know,” Bucky says around a mouthful of popcorn, “I worked that out when he told me frequently and vividly how I broke it”
At this Sam looks up, levelling Bucky with a glare, “none of that bullshit on the trip Barnes,” Bucky raising his hands in mock surrender does nothing but deepen the glare, “I’m serious. Steve doesn’t know I know for one, and I won’t have you ruin this trip for me with your nonsense. Sharon was 5 years ago and I will kill you myself if you run salt on the wound”
“Hey it’s not going to be me,” Bucky says placating, “I’ve reached out to the guy dozens of times over the years. He’s the one who can’t move past it”
Sam raises an eyebrow and Bucky grumbles, pinching the skin of his neck, “I won’t antagonise him, I promise,” he grimaces, “well - I won’t antagonise him much”
“I don’t think I could spend an entire trip with winding Stevie up,” Bucky muses, making grabby hands until Sam hands him a beer bottle, “He always turns so red - its hilarious”
Sam’s face re-arranges itself to something akin to pity, “Its okay to admit you miss him you know. I’m sure he misses you too”
Bucky pointedly dusts his hands onto Sam’s tshirt and presses a sloppy kiss onto his cheek, “why would I miss him when I’ve got you birdbrain?”
“You guys were always closer to each other than you were to me,” Sam holds up the hand not wiping the spit off his cheek to stop Bucky from answering, “hey I’m not jealous or nothing. It’s okay I get it. You guys got on like a house on fire, it really sucks that you stopped talking”
“Yeah well,” Bucky keeps his eyes trained onto the floor, “wasn’t really my decision was it?”
Sam gives up on packing his suitcase to wrap his arms around Bucky, not budging when Bucky starts protesting
“Who knows,” Sam muses when Bucky stops shifting, “maybe this trip will fix us. Put the trio back together”
Bucky snorts, “If Steve can find space in his life between the stick up in his ass and his workaholic tendencies then sure there’s maybe a chance”
but he also slumps against Sam’s embrace, which tells him all he needs to know about how Bucky really feels without Steve in his life
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“So, just to clarify -” Sam says, painfully aware of the way that Natasha is only half paying attention, “my flight is in 3 hours and I’ll be touching down in Costa Brava - where I will be meeting Bucky and Stevie. I won’t have a sim until later in the day so please don’t freak out when I don’t call immediately”
“Remind me again why you can’t fly with Bucky?” Natasha asks, the voice just off plaintive, “it will make me feel so much better if I knew you were flying with someone baby”
“Bucky’s got a later flight,” Sam says, keeping his voice even, “and I don’t want Steve to see both of us enter together - it will set a bad tone for the whole trip”
“Ah yes,” Natasha doesn’t roll her eyes, but its a near thing, “the infamous Steve. I’m not sure how I feel about you road-tripping with a man I’ve never met. At least I know that Bucky gets up to no good - I have no judge of Steve”
“Steve lives in London it isn’t exactly a train ride away. And trust me, Steve won’t be getting us into any trouble. He’s not the type”
She hums noncommittally, looking down at her wrist before offering up her cheek - that Sam obligingly bends down and kisses
‘Its getting late for your flight,” she says - “and I wouldn’t want to keep you any more than I have already. Plus - I have a bunch of stuff to do, resignation letters to write, a wedding to plan, there’s just so much”
Sam’s almost at the door, but he freezes, “wait - what do you mean resignation letter?”
Natasha cocks her head at him, “we’re getting married baby, of course I’m not going to continue to work. Who’s going to look after the house if we both work? Besides - you make enough for the both of us”
Sam physically tamps down on everything he has to say, mindful of the time, “We’ll talk about this when I get back, but please - hold off on sending any letters until then”
Natasha’s brows furrow, but she nods, and Sam’s shoulder sag
“Just remember,” he says before he steps into the cab, “your work is the reason we met. I wouldn’t throw it away that quickly”
and before she can say anything - he closes the cab door and settles in for the long drive to the airport
Three weeks in Spain, Sam thinks to himself, sending off a quick message to the three musketeers chat to let them know that he’s on his way, maybe this is exactly what he needs to get a bit of perspective
tbc