"I'm still having a hard time believing that you're here, Steve."

The sleeping arrangements changed drastically after the 107th was liberated from the Hydra camp, to both Bucky and Steve's distaste, although the sergeant knew it was his own fault when he purposed in front of everyone. Now that the colonel was fully aware of just how deep Buck and Evangeline's affections ran, the old bastard was determined to snuff out their flames.

Before their last mission, Bucky had a tent right next to Angie's, due to their ranks. The location was extremely beneficial to the duo, making it easier and faster for Angie to sneak in late at night, then sneak back into her own tent early before the other troops woke up. They could also get to each other a lot quicker in case an emergency suddenly sprung up in camp, whether it be a fire, ambush, brawl between rowdy soldiers. The arrangement was the most advantageous one they'd ever had during their time in a war zone.

Now, that little gift had been thrown into a trench and buried in a pile of horse crap. Though Bucky got to share his tent with Steve, their new quarters were located all the way across the camp site, hardly an inch away from Colonel Phillips's and a little over three quarters of a mile from Angie's (which she now shared with Peggy Carter).

You'd think the colonel would've stopped his efforts there. After all, they were all adults. Moving Sergeant Barnes's tent seemed childish enough; Colonel Phillips had to draw the line somewhere when it came to treating these soldiers like little kids. But nope, he was on a roll and showed no signs of slowing down. From that point on, two soldiers were instructed to guard each tent and alert the colonel if anyone left the canvas shelters after settling down for the night. 

Of course, Bucky was absolutely furious. Not just because he was nearly a mile away from Evangeline, but for the fact that the colonel was treating them like rebellious teenagers.

"Then stop acting like it," was all Phillips said in reply to Bucky's objections, then returned to his paperwork as if nothing had happened in the first place. Angie wasn't too happy about their situation either, especially now that she was being forced to leave the front lines all together with no knowing of when she'd get back, if she even was allowed back. But she didn't want to make things worse, so she kept her mouth shut and nodded whenever the colonel acknowledged her. 

"Yeah, me too," Steve whispered back from the opposite side of the tent. Despite them being only a few feet away from Phillips, the canvas tent walls were thick enough to muffle their words if they were to whisper quietly. So that's what Steve and Bucky did. "It was pretty crazy."

"Was Angie shocked when she saw?" There was something in Bucky's words that Steve couldn't decipher, something hidden in his question that was slightly off, but he knew better than to ask what was wrong. Buck was probably still upset about this big mess they'd stepped in. 

"I don't know," he started, his right hand behind his head while he stared up at the tent's angled ceiling. "She was in bad shape when I found her. I think she was just happy to be alive." Steve could only see Bucky in his peripheral vision, but it was easy to notice the sergeant's body shift uneasily at the sound of that news, his muscles tighten with an anger that would take decades to fade away. The damage done to Evangeline stirred up horrid emotions within Steve as well, but so much information had been thrown in his direction within the last twenty-four hours that he was still trying to process it all, the most difficult piece to swallow being the fact that Bucky had just purposed to their best friend and Steve hadn't seen it coming.

"They're gonna pay for what they did," Buck took a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm himself down as his eyes tried to bore a hole in the white fabric resting a little over a foot above his head. "Every last one of those bastards."

"We'll get 'em, Buck, don't worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried, just pissed."

A moment of silence passed between the two best friends and the sound of crickets chirping from the nearby creek filled the air, along with the muted voices of Colonel Phillips and Mr.Stark hardly recognizable. Finally, Steve mustered up the courage to break the quiet and ask the question that had been bothering himself all day. 

"So, how long have you two been...y'know..." Buck glanced over at his friend, but couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face at the change of topic.

"I don't know, at least three, maybe four, months now," the sergeant replied.

"That's not all that long," Steve didn't hesitate to point out.

"I know," Buck agreed with an annoyed sigh. "But I knew I loved her before our boat was even half way across the Atlantic, and I'm pretty sure she felt the same way back then, too."

"How could you tell?" Steve didn't want to sound too interested in their backstory, considering that he'd lived through the majority of it, but if he wanted to get all the pieces to this puzzle, now was as good a time as any. If he wanted to know what had pulled the two together so suddenly, it was better to ask then than bring it up randomly some time else.

"I...flirted with her a bit," The pause was a shock to Steve; it almost sounded like Bucky was embarrassed by that little fact. Was he blushing? It was hard to tell in the dark, but Steve didn't doubt it. "Said a few things here and there to hint that I was interested in something more, but I think she didn't believe it at first. I'm guessing that's why it took us forever to get together in the first place. And then there were the nights on guard duty. She always gets really bad nightmares, so I'd wake her up whenever she seemed panicked and she'd stay up with me during my shift on watch."

Steve didn't say anything after that, just kept his eyes on the canvas above him. He was grateful that Angie wasn't alone out here, that Bucky was watching out for her and vice versa. But there was no way of denying his jealousy to himself now as the regret slowly began to fill him up like a sinking ship. If only Dr.Erskine had found him sooner, he would've been there for her instead of Buck.

"She'd ask about you, y'know."

Thought caught Steve's attention and he raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was always worried about you. We both were," Buck let out a small, low chuckle. "She was always scared that you were getting into fights that you couldn't get out of without us around. I'd always say that you were a grown man and that you can stand your own ground, but she never listens." Well, the fact that she had been thinking about Steve, too, made the super-soldier feel a little warmer inside.

Bucky opened his mouth to continue, but stopped himself short when the silent chatting between Stark and Phillips turned into yelling as a herd of soldiers began to holler and shout just outside their tent. Both Bucky and Steve jumped to their feet to see what all the ruckus was about, but were turned around when two hands suddenly grabbed their shoulders from behind and spun the men on their heals.

"Henry?" Buck asked before he could accidentally punch the kid in the face for scaring him. "What are you doing here?" The younger man was sweating, his hair stuck to his skin like glue, and breathing heavily, but he seemed just as alert as the other two soldiers.

"You still have your rings?" He asked in between deep breaths. Buck pulled the little container from his back pocket and gently shook it. The two wedding bands rattled around inside. "Good, come on."

"What's going on?" Steve questioned him before Henry could drag them off, away from the action happening outside their tent.

"It's a distraction to keep Phillips occupied. I'd say we have ten, maybe fifteen minutes at the most." Henry tiredly turned to Bucky once more. "You want to marry Angel? Then come on, she and Agent Carter are waiting in the forest."