Chapter Text
Bucky rolled his eyes as he sat on Steve’s bed, watching as his friend packed. This was hardly the first time his friend had wanted to run away from home and while he understood – hell he understood more than Steve would ever know – this was by far the most unrealistic and cliché of his plans to date.
“Really? The Circus?”
“Yes.” Steve repeated again, he had already confirmed this four times since Bucky arrived. “I am sick of living here and my aunty won’t notice if I’m gone. There’s a circus setting up on the oval down the street of the church, I talked to the owner a guy called Nick Fury, and he said they are only doing a couple of shows before they leave. I offered to help out and he said they were always happy to get extra hands. If I can prove that I’m a good worker he might let me go with them! And I can finally be free of this town!”
Bucky ran his fingers through his hair, absently noting its length, “Technically the town is fine, it’s just the people here that are shitty.” He countered, earning a smile from his friend. “And you’re just going to take off and leave me here?”
Steve stopped and faced him, his eyes, so hard with determination, softened, “You know I’d never do that Buck. Come with me?”
“To the circus.” Bucky deadpanned and sighed again. “This is a terrible plan, you’re aware of this right?”
“You’ve gone alone with worse plans.” Steve pointed out with a cheeky smirk that to anyone else would be charming but Bucky knew how much of a little shit his friend really was.
“… you’re not wrong.” He begrudgingly relented, “Alright. Let’s go be the most cliché people in the history of people and run away to join the circus.”
+
As it turns out, running away to join a circus entailed a lot more work than Bucky had thought. Fury had allowed he and Steve to help set up the tents and to help the members of the circus get ready before every show.
The circus, Sortie Du Cirque (aka Circus of Outcast’s as Bucky would later find out), did three shows every day. The morning was reserved for practice, with every act getting a chance to either practice on stage or where ever else they preferred. There was then a show in the afternoon, another in the early evening for young families to be able to attend without their little ones having to be up too late, and a final show late at night. After the first full day with the circus Bucky decided the late night show was by far his favourite.
As there were rarely little kids in the audience, the performers didn’t have to censor themselves, a lot of them would banter more freely, both among themselves and with the audience, and more raunchy topics could be talked about freely.
The show consisted of five acts and two clowns who kept the crowd going in the in-between moments. Fury had explained that some performers would join them for a few shows, sometimes up to a few months at a time, as they passed through other cities but the main performers were as constant as the tent itself.
The five main acts consisted of Thor the Strong Man, The Two Mad Scientists, The Man Who Never Misses, The Angelic Ariel Acrobat, and Loki the Trickster. The two clowns were never named on stage but Bucky learned their names were Sam and Scott. The two men were hilarious and insanely talented in their own rights but their speciality really was making the crowd laugh. They were fantastic improvisers and any small issue was covered smoothly by them.
The rest of the performers were also really nice people, at least as far as Bucky could tell.
They pulled their weight and helped to set things up, Thor (and yeah apparently that was the guys real name) lived up to his stage name and did a lot of the heavy lifting. Steve got on with the blonde famously, it helped that the strong man was also a giant puppy human.
Clint (the man who didn’t miss) and Natasha (the acrobat) were both easy going people but Bucky could sense that they were hiding something. He could see it in the hints of darkness that entered their eyes and the way they avoided talking about certain situations. He had seen the same look and done the same things himself. So he knew better than to push and it seemed that they were doing the same with him. The mutual avoidance meant the three became friends pretty quickly.
The two scientists didn’t seem mad when they weren’t performing, Tony was a little cocky and a bit eccentric but Bruce was nearly shy when the stage lights weren’t on him. It was almost as though the Bruce off stage and the one in the spotlight were different people all together. Either way the two were nice, more than a few times they would start talking about science mumbo jumbo that Bucky had no hope of following but it was still interesting to listen to. He would always feel both smarter and dumber after talking to them.
The only performer that Bucky wasn’t overly sure of was Loki.
While he and Steve had met the others on their first day of work, Loki had refused to come out to meet them. Thor had apologised profusely, apparently the two were brothers and so he felt the need to represent his younger brother. The brunet had spotted him as he and Steve were repainting one of the large signs later that day. A slender man with hair as black as night and skin so pale he was nearly worried the man was ill, Loki was sat beneath a nearby tree with a book on his lap, seeming completely content to lose himself in the pages and ignore the world around him.
“He looks nothing like his brother…” Bucky had whispered to Steve.
Steve followed his gaze and saw who he meant, “I think the archer, Clint, mentioned that Loki is adopted.”
Bucky had hummed and the two had gotten back to work.
+
It wasn’t till the following day that he had met Loki properly.
Fury had asked he and Steve to help out with the sets and props (Bucky suspected it was because Steve was forever hopeful and persistent about proving their worth), and Bucky had helped to bring out things for Loki.
Bucky remembered seeing a magician when he was eight - he had done some basic card tricks and made a rabbit appear out of a hat. He had thought it was incredible, believing it was all real, until of course his father had pointed out how the man had done it and called him an idiot for ever believing in it.
Since then Bucky had always scoffed at magicians. He had become well practiced in finding the secrets that they tried to guard.
So being this close as Loki did his performance should have made it easy for him to find out exact how Loki was doing it and yet… as he seemingly transformed a rubber chicken that Sam had passed to him into a live dove that promptly flew around the room, Bucky was stumped. He had no idea how he had done it.
+
When Bucky agreed to run away to the circus with Steve he hadn’t expected them to really stay. He thought that the other would realise that it was a bad idea and the two would return after a few days. He thought that, even with how well they had done their jobs, Fury wouldn’t let them stay.
But he had started to hope that he would be wrong.
So when Fury had asked them to help them pack the trucks, Bucky had to admit he was a bit depressed. The last couple of days with the circus had been the first in years that he had felt like he was at home. While Bucky was in the habit of schooling his features into a blank mask when he was upset, Steve wore his heart on his sleeve. It was obvious to everyone present that he didn’t want to leave.
It was Tony that cracked first, “Fury come on; have mercy on the poor guy.”
A rare smirk appeared on the owners’ face, “Like I said boys, pack up the trucks. And make sure you have a bag or two on there as well. That is of course, if you want to come with us?”
“Really? Thank you so much!” Steve lit up like the fourth of July and soon enough the two were heading home to pack and let their families know they were leaving.
+
That went about as well as Bucky had expected.
He arrived before Steve, thank the gods, and Natasha was the first one to spot him. She didn’t even mention the bruise on his jaw as she gestured for him to follow her.
In the back of one of the trucks she used her foundation to cover it up before giving him a gentle genuine smile. “There, all done.”
“Thanks…”
Natasha shrugged, “You’re part of the family now right? Unlike some families, we look out for each other.” The power in her voice shook him to his core and he could only manage a small nod. “Now, help me get my suitcase in here?”
+
As Bucky and Steve sat beside each other, the blonde smiled brightly at him.
“We did it Buck. We finally did it.”