Archive of Our Own

"I made a wish on a star once, when we were kids." Sleepy, Bucky sounded so sleepy, barely awake and mumbling into his collarbone. "Was that winter you got real sick, we all thought you'd had it. I climbed out of the fire escape and up onto the roof 'cause I didn't want your Ma to see me bawling. I spoke to a big ol' shooting star and you know what, it actually spoke back to me."

Steve, tired himself, was only half listening at this point. "Oh yeah. What did the star say?"

"I made my wish that you'd live. The lady said that weren't in doubt, that you were gonna shape the century, but it would be a terrible life, filled with all this pain and bad things. I told her no, let me have that. Give him his destiny. Give me his pain, he don't need that. I'll bear it. I want it." Bucky was smiling against his skin at this point, dreamily, hardly seeming to realise the gravity of his words.

Steve nuzzled into Bucky's hair, seeking the memory amidst his rising heartbeat and stress, getting a glimpse of a tear-stained barely teenaged Bucky and a beautiful blonde woman made of light, eyes burning orange, a pendant like a star hanging around her neck, reaching down to him from the sky like a vision. Just a snatch of something, nothing substantial except the impression that it was important. He held his breath but tried not to tense up, not wishing to give away just how disturbed he was by what Bucky was confessing.

"I reckon that star was looking out for you. You were always destined for... something..." Bucky mumbled, losing coherance. "M'glad I made that wish... glad every day... I love you, so much..." He was gently snoring into Steve's skin barely a few seconds later.

Ordinarily, Steve would be letting himself go under too, happily heading to their shared dream world to enjoy more time together in a different way. Instead he stared up at the stars through the glass ceiling, wide awake, his mind racing.

Maybe before waking up in the new century, Bucky's words might have been meaningless fancy to him. But Steve had fought aliens and seen technological miracles up close too many times now. He had an understanding of the universe far beyond anything he could have imagined when he was just that skinny kid from Brooklyn. So his heart wouldn't stop hammering thinking about what Bucky had said.

Gently, he slipped out of the sheets, careful not to wake Bucky up. He slipped on some pants and hurried out of the suite, padding along the corridor in bare feet and into the elevator. Steve headed down to the apartment Tony had let them take over down in the main section fo the tower and went straight to the desk drawer where he kept his sketchpad.

Trying to draw a likeness for someone he'd only seen a fleeting glimpse of wasn't an easy thing to do, but he kept erasing parts of her face until she looked as close as possible to what he'd seen in Bucky's memory. He coloured her in, bringing her eyes to life with that strange orange glow he'd seen and doing his best to replicate how that pendant she wore looked like a captured star, and starred at the drawing for a while, growing more and more disturbed.

He contemplated finding a way to speak to Thor but knew that his friend was spending some personal time with Jane over in London. It seemed like an overreaction to bother him with something he would be pretty unlikely to know anything about.

Yet the drawing was almost staring back at him and he was cold to the bone thinking about it. It had been too real, that flash of memory. Bucky might have dismissed it back then, and made his peace with it now, if he had even given it further consideration, but Steve was stuck with an uncomfortable feeling about it, like the foundations of everything he'd taken for granted were turning to sand.

He headed back up to the top floor of the tower where Bucky was still sprawled on the mountain of cushions that had been left at the centre of the incomplete suite under the stars. It was such a calming and beautiful spot, used so frequently by Tony Stark's neverending stream of guests as a hangout or unofficial bedroom in some cases, that it just wasn't ever finished. That was part of the charm really.

Steve hung back in the doorway, everything inside him tugging forward at the sight of Bucky wrapped around a pillow, skin glowing under the pale moonlight, that metal arm one long gleam of silver light. Everything about their present situation was a miracle. No matter how painful the journey had been for both of them, Steve guiltily shared Bucky's sentiment that it had all been worth it for this present happiness. It was beyond anything Steve had known he could even feel, living in a state of amazing atunement with his lifelong guardian and friend, free to love him without anyone to tell him no.

The psychic connection that had been bestowed on them was an everpresent hum within their bodies now, made stronger by their constant proximity. It was manifesting more and more in little ways, like the time he'd been massaging shampoo into Bucky's hair in the shower and felt it as if it were happening to him, fingers writhing on his own scalp. Or that time when Bucky had drunk some coffee that was too hot and Steve felt the sting on his tongue. Best of all were those moments when they were forehead to forehead, bodies moving in a synchronised rut, Steve moving inside him urgently while Bucky keened and pressed back, where they'd both had precious moments of flying between minds, every sensation heightened into a frenzy.

In sleep, Bucky was still and almost completely silent. Steve didn't want to linger long, knowing he would soon be missed in the dream space they lived within at night. All he could do was set his concern aside for now and continue as normal.

But the worry about Bucky's confession stayed with him, returning into his mind every now and then at odd moments in the days following. For the most part, he managed to keep his preoccupation about it to himself. He played any lapses in thought off as nothing, confining any serious thinking about it to his morning runs and sessions with the punching bag.

Bucky was spending a lot of his time piecing together their future travel plans, even though remembering certain places left him staring off into nothing without warning sometimes. He assured Steve that he could handle it, so it was an activity Steve was happy to leave him to getting on with more or less alone. Much as he didn't want to let Bucky out of his sight, he was developing a sense for his moods even when he was in another part of the tower, making it easier not to hover over him all the time. He had started to feel Bucky's moments of anxiety, his attempts to push past them and the pressure release when he made it. It was sort of soothing, being there for him even when he wasn't physically there.

Bruce was fascinated by each minor new development in their psychic connection of course. It didn't apply to him in the same way, either because his serum was too different in its realisation or because it was a bonding unique to Steve and Bucky that had actived these extra skills, so he was able to stand back and do his tests objectively. He was eagerly writing up the results and devising new ways to extend the experiment. Steve didn't have the heart to put an end to it, though he could tell Bucky was getting impatient after three weeks of scrutiny.

They were essentially just waiting around for Bruce to give the go ahead for them to leave. Though Stark was talking about putting together a game plan to deal with some left over HYDRA bases in the US he had gathered intel on, Steve was determined to have nothing to do with it for Bucky's sake. He didn't give an official resignation from the Avengers, but made it clear that he was going on hiatus until such time as he and Bucky made a joint decision to return, with the one caveat that if another planet-endangering alien invasion occured in the meantime he would probably come and help out then. Tony made it clear he wasn't best pleased with Captain America handing in his membership card to his superhero club; he'd been eyeing Bucky with distrust since Steve had hauled him in there and begged Tony to fix up his arm, mostly staying out of their way since then. But Steve refused to feel bad about it. He and Bucky had shed more blood and tears than anyone to stop the threat of HYDRA, for far longer too. No one could say that they weren't due a break.

Inevitably, Bucky pinned Steve down one night on the subject of why he was having moments of extreme worry. That hyperawareness wasn't one way. Steve didn't want to admit it but nor did he have the ability to lie to Bucky. "That thing you told me, about the star, the woman, it's bothering me."

It took Bucky a few seconds to understand and then Steve could feel his unease rising. "I... shouldn't have told you about that," he growled and pulled away from Steve, sitting on the edge of their bed with his back turned. "Don't know why I did."

"Was it real?"

Bucky sighed long and hard. "I didn't think so back then. Now... I've seen a lot of things over the years. I do wonder about her."

Steve crawled over and wrapped his arms around Bucky's torso, kissing his shoulder, both offering comfort and asking for forgiveness for not mentioning his concern sooner. "I'm thinking about calling Thor. Asking him."

"Your friend from Asgard?"

"If he doesn't know, he'll know someone who might have a good idea about it. He always does."

"No, Steve." Bucky shook his head, sadly. "It's better not to know. Doesn't matter really, does it? We gotta look forward, not back."

"I guess." Though it didn't entirely stop him from thinking about that woman, and the implications of what Bucky had wished for, Steve had to accept his answer and put it aside. Even if Bucky had somehow made a pact long ago to change their fates, there was no way to change a thing about it now anyway.

They settled into routine, helping Bruce, enjoying their time lying around in warm parks and on perfect golden beaches in their shared dreams, sparring on occasion, making up for lost time. Sam came for a visit on Steve's suggestion, both to meet Bucky as he was now and to be introduced to Tony with a not too subtle suggestion that he should use of his skills to remake the Falcon's broken wings for the betterment of a reformed Avengers team.

Tony wasn't much in the mood to be pleasant though, his mouth permanently set into a disapproving line. He seemed alright with Bruce and willing to indulge his friend in letting Steve and Bucky stick around as this 'psychic pet project' but he wasn't being pleasant about that, or about Sam visiting. Steve was tempted to call him on it when he made some snide comment about housing the entire 'Captain American fanclub' under one roof, but he knew it would be pointless. Tony was just... Tony.

Sam's visit was great regardless of Tony's determination to be in a bad mood. Steve felt giddy when he and Bucky made friends quickly, despite what the Winter Soldier had done to Sam's precious wings. Sam had a few suggestions for their travel plans and had plenty of knowledge about some of the places on Bucky's itinerary, giving them lots to discuss. Privately, Sam made it clear he was amazed by how well Bucky was doing, filling Steve with warmth at the positive expert opinion. They went running, caught a movie and listened to a few more of the tunes on Sam's 'bring Steve Rogers up to date' list. It was always so easy hanging with Sam and by the end of his stay, Steve had almost forgotten all about the mysterious woman from Bucky's memory of a wish long ago.

The evening after Sam headed home to Washington, with a cheerfully wished good luck to them both on their big worldwide adventure, JARVIS called Steve and Bucky to the boardroom, where they came upon Tony looking at a familiar face on a big floating screen.

Steve's heart seized up a little seeing a fuzzy impression of Natasha Romanov up there on the screen. It was immediately obvious that something was wrong; the signal was choppy and vague but through the fuzz, it was obvious that she had a cut to the head that was bleeding. Wherever she was, it looked dark. Maybe underground.

"There you are," Tony greeted them without turning round. "Oh don't stand on ceremony, this isn't live. JARVIS only just managed to clean it up enough to find this encrypted video buried inside. It was sent on the super extra secret Avengers comms channel... We have one of those by the way."

"And you only just told us this now?" Steve said, incredulously.

"It's only been a few hours since it arrived."

"What's happened?"

"Hard to know for sure. She said something about HYDRA - shocker I know. JARVIS, replay it."

Steve and Bucky watched as the video was rewound and started up again, a mess of lines and fuzz with rapidly .

"...position pinned down... compromised... don't... maybe... looking for something... Fury said they'd cleaned out his datab... think they want the Winter Soldier... setting this video to autosend in 2 minutes... contingency..." The video vibrated with the sound of some loud banging, like doors being smashed open, making it obvious that it was being recorded on a phone from a hiding place. As Natasha backed away from the camera, there were flashes of gunfire amid the fuze and then the whole thing froze up completely.

At that moment, Bruce came in and looked between the three of them. "What did I miss?" he asked, probably too jovial for the heavy mood in the room.

"We can't get an exact fix on where it was sent from but it was somewhere near Budapest," Tony continued, ignoring him. "Can't get hold of Natasha and nothing else has been sent since then."

Steve hated sensing Bucky pushing down his distress, hiding it behind a face set in stone. They had been so close to freedom, to believing they could just go and enjoy the world for a little while, the message was an absolute gut punch of the worst kind. He immediately wanted to wrap his arms around Bucky, draw him close, mostly just to reassure himself that everything was still alright.

"Then it's not safe for me to be here. I should go," Bucky muttered, gruffly, shrinking away from him and heading for the door, only stopping because Bruce was unintentionally standing in his way.

"Hey, no wait... This is the safest place for you to be," Steve protested.

"Not... I don't mean I'm in danger," Bucky growled with exasperation, and Steve practically heard him tack the word 'jackass' onto the end, though it wasn't audible. "The Black Widow has been compromised. If what she said is correct, it's only a matter of time before they trace me here, if they haven't already. You're all in danger. I gotta go to ground for a while."

"This tower is fully secure. We'll call in the Avengers and come up with a plan." Steve wasn't about to give up so easily.

Tony was giving Bucky a cold stare. He let it fall a little when he saw that Steve had turned to him and was watching, but it didn't completely disappear. "I'm still remodelling after the last attack on this tower but hey, what's a few million dollars between friends."

Bucky gave Tony a sharp nod and Tony returned it, still staring daggers, and for a moment Steve had the unnerving impression that he had missed something important along the way somewhere.

"The thing I don't get is, why go after Natasha?" Tony continued, pacing, one hand waving in the air animatedly. "She has no link to Barnes. No info, right? That just makes no sense."

"Hard to say. For now let's worry about the immediate threat." Steve had switched into full on Captain America mode now, taking on a well practiced air of command. "The tower needs to be fully locked down. No way in, no way out. At least until we can figure out what they may be planning."

"Great. Pepper's due back from her mom's tomorrow. She's going to kill me," Tony grumbled under his breath.

Bucky shook his head and Steve felt waves of anger, frustration and the heavy weight of guilt coming from him as he stormed out, almost knocking an increasingly worried looking Bruce aside. Steve immediately moved to follow but Bruce actually put a hand up to stop him.

"Even I felt that," Bruce said, quietly. "Give him a second."

Steve shrank back, actually feeling a twang of pain in chest. It was so hard to resist the urge to try and soothe Bucky now that they were so much more closely linked mentally than they ever had been before. But he had to acknowledge that Bruce was giving good advice and that it would be better to give him some space.

"Right, so, planning," Tony leapt back in. "What do you do with a problem like the Winter Soldier?"

Steve was right on the cusp of starting an argument with Tony but he bit his tongue to avoid saying something he'd later regret. "Assemble the others. Keep trying Natasha. Also, try Nick Fury. She said something about his files being cleaned out, so HYDRA must be after him too and we need to know what they were after." When no obvious move was made to do as he said, he glared at Tony. "Problem?"

There was something unsaid hanging on Tony's lips, that he seemed to be struggling to hold in. In the end, his shoulders sagged and he sighed. "Fine. JARVIS, you heard the Captain. Bruce, come help me would ya?"

Bruce looked between them, like a child watching his parents fighting, but scuttled over as requested. Steve could tell that Tony wanted to talk to Bruce alone and that was just fine by him.

He turned to leave, to go find Bucky, but there was a sudden pop and the room went dark for a moment, only the soft illumination of non-mains powerered tech remaining. There was a whirring noise and some of the lights flickered back on.

"JARVIS, what the hell was that?"

The only response was a garbled fuzz over the inbuilt wall speakers, short and staccato.

"Power cut," Bruce postulated. He went over to the wall to wall windows to look out over the city. "Not just us. Look."

Steve and Tony followed his lead and looked out over a city in darkness, punctuated only by car headlights and the sound of distant vehicle crashes and yelling from the streets below."

"Why has the power only come back on here?"

"Oh please," Tony huffed, like it was somehow obvious. "Isolated backup generators, obviously. JARVIS is probably rebooting. I hate when that happens, he always takes ages. The mood lighting will have to stay until main power is restored."

Bruce turned to Steve, frowning. "Get Barnes."

They were clearly thinking the exact same thing. Steve spun and headed back for the door. Once again, he was stopped in his tracks as the television screen burst to life. Not just that, but Tony's datapad and a TV in the corner did the same, showing the same gradually clearing static.

It slowly cleared itself up on all of the screens and revealed the image of a man in a suit. The moment his face became clear, they were all gaping at him in surprise.

"Is that...?" Tony began, hesitantly.

Alexander Pierce was peering back at them in a closed room with a faintly yellow glow. He smirked into the camera, apparently relishing the moment of his reveal.

Steve felt a burst of absolute terror kick him in the gut and both he and Bruce drew in a shocked breath in perfect unison. That even Bruce was picking up on it that told Steve just how strong it was.