oop my hand slipped~

* * *

When Sam Wilson was exposed as the falcon, different companies reacted in different ways. Sam's Club, for one, embraced it. They got permission to plaster Sam's face on every wall:

'Endorsed By The Falcon!'

To Sam, it was glorious. He had kept this under wraps from one particular team member, and that was none other than Bucky Barnes.

~

"Hey Bucky, Thor wants me to go to Sam's Club to buy him some poptarts. Wanna come with?" Sam asked nonchalantly.

Bucky thought for a moment before agreeing. "This is only because I haven't been out in a while, and not because I enjoy your company. Got it, bird man?"

Sam grinned, "But with me inheriting the shield, I also gain you as my best friend!"

"I would rather die." Bucky said, staring down Sam.

They each got ready and headed down to the garage where Tony kept the cars, and Sam called shotgun.

"Um, no, birdbrain. You're driving." Bucky argued, tossing Sam the keys before he could get in the car.

"The last time I drove, I got the steering wheel ripped out of my hands, Barnes." Sam pointed out, and Bucky groaned.

"I've told you! I don't remember doing that. Drop it, will you, Wilson?"

"Yeah, yeah." Sam said, although he smiled a bit and started the car. He played a radio station that he loved, and swayed a little bit as he mouthed the words.

Bucky looked over, amused. "As much as I love the show, could you turn the music down?"

"What? I can't hear you!" Sam yelled as he turned the music up, much to Bucky's dismay.

Surprisingly, they got to Sam's Club without any more verbal abuse to each other, and once Sam parked, they exited the car. Bucky hadn't noticed the big posters with large Sam faces grinning at him yet.

Instead, he was focused on a group of pigeons. 

"Hey Willy, do you know them? Are you missing a family reunion right now?" Bucky asked, pointing to them as they ate off of the asphalt.

"Nah, Barney. But hey, lets go, okay?" 

Bucky looked at Sam weirdly before turning around to face the store. He stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at Sam, looked at the store. Looked at Sam, looked at the store.

"You didn't."

"Oh, but I did!" Sam teased, waggling a finger at the cringey emo wannabe.

Bucky walked towards the store as if there were an army of the most ugly aliens ready to fight him. I mean, Sam faces were there, so... same thing, right?

As much as he didn't want to enter that godforsaken store, he wanted Sam even less to win at upsetting Bucky. So, Bucky did what any angry, petty child would do. He strode into that stupid store with a grimace on his face, and did not acknowledge the horrifying posters at all.

Sam was a little irked, and kept trying to get Bucky to react to them. Bucky, however, would not comply, and acted as if this was just another trip to the store.

"Hey, Uncle Sam, look over here."

Sam turned hopefully, expecting Bucky to finally be noticing his beautiful face. Zip, Nada, Nothing.

"heh, they've got Dorito flavored Poptarts with Steve's face on it. Gross, right?"

Sam didn't want to agree, but on instinct his face pulled into a gruesome one and he let out a little "Ew."

Bucky paused for a moment. He looked at Sam. He looked at the Poptarts. He threw a few packages of Poptarts into their cart which was already nearly filled.

"Next isle!"

~

"Hey Bucky can you pass the salt, please?"

Bucky threw the salt out of the nearby window.

"We're out."

~

Bucky didn't sleep that often, and would usually hang out in his room until a normal hour to be awake. He continued to do so very frequently, until one night when he got hungry.

So, he exited his room and found himself in the kitchen, looking at Sam Wilson's back. He stood there for a little bit before nearly turning around and going back to his room.

Instead, Sam turned around. He gave Bucky a little smile, "It's alright. Come eat. I'm almost done here, anyway, if you want me to leave."

Bucky stood there, speechless. He managed to find his voice amidst roaming his eyes over Sam's body. "No, it's fine. You can stay."

A heavy silence hung over the kitchen as Sam ate his food and Bucky made his. They didn't talk, they didn't tease. They just were there. Together.

They never did talk about that quiet morning. Bucky never said anything about how Sam's face had a few tear stains on it and how his clothes were rumpled. Same never brought up the fact that Bucky's hands had shaken when he got his plate out of the cupboard. They never talked about how that was the moment that they realized the other one was broken, sad, in desperate need of someone to sit in silence with.

~
Bucky was chilling in his room low-key hating himself (as it be sometimes) when he got a notification from FRIDAY.

Suddenly, he was sprinting towards the living room. Call him quicksilver, an Olympic runner, call him a cat that just got approached, he was off.

He burst into the living room. "yO FRIDAY just told me that Sammy Boi flew into the window! Where is he?"

Bucky took plenty of pictures and cackled at all of them. He just laughed harder when Sam flipped him off.

And, man, did Bucky look cute when he was laughing.

~

"Hey, bigbird, wanna train with me? Nat's at her yoga class or whatever she does with her girl friends."

Sam looked up. "Only if you ask nicely, Bucket Bornes."

"You act as if you have a choice." Bucky replied, leaning against the wall as he continued to chat with Sam.

"Fine. I do need to train, anyway." Sam reasoned.

And that was how Sam ended up being slammed into the training mat at early o'clock in the morning (the rooster hadn't even crowed yet, for godsake) by Bucky, who had very nice bedhead. Not that he was looking.

(who was he kidding. he was looking.)

Sam lay on the blue mat, out of breath and wincing as his muscles grew tired. He got himself up, again, and wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve. He was quite obviously exhausted.

"Tired yet, birdboy?" Sam looked up at Bucky's voice, and saw Bucky with the wildest grin, carefree and reckless.

And that was how Sam Wilson realized that oh no, he liked Barnes. He had feelings for Bucky Barnes, the sadistic little emo. He had fallen in love with every comment, with every early-morning training session, with every cup of tea that Bucky brought him. He loved the way they could verbally spar, then head down to the gym and physically spar, sometimes for hours on end. 

So what did he do? He plastered on a smirk and looked Bucky in the eyes.

"Only if you are, metalman."

That was the moment that James Barnes had the epiphany that oh no, he liked Wilson. He had feelings for Sam Wilson, that sarcastic little bird. He had fallen in love with every smile of those teeth, the way that his eyes crinkled and his head fell back when he laughed. He loved the way that he could take Bucky's teasing and serve it right back, but knew when to stop and be serious.

So what did he do? He pushed down his feelings like he always had, for seventy years, and continued to spar.

~

The team was on a quinjet, set off for a mission. It was a dangerous one, sure, but weren't they all? Didn't they all require their lives on the line? Would they ever get to relax, or would they be fighting until they retire?

Retire? Or get killed?

Sam didn't really look at the papers that everyone had been given, so he had no idea where it was. He just knew that it was cold, so he brought a jacket, one of those puffy ones that swallow you up. Bucky had looked at him and let out a smile. Like, a real smile.

Sam didn't like the way his stomach did flips at that.

The team was on the quinjet, and would arrive at the location in a few minutes. Everyone was preparing their weapons, and Sam was no different. He realized he was missing something, and looked up to see it near Bucky.

"Hey Jamie, can you pass that to me?"

What? Where had that nickname come from? Why hadn't he gone with Barney again?

Bucky looked up slowly, and looked at the piece. "Sure thing," He agreed, as he moved the small metal object further away from where Sam was sitting.

"You're the worst," Sam mumbled, but there was no malice in his words. Bucky didn't like the way his heart fluttered at the look Sam sent him. 

One thing they could agree on, without swooning over the other? They both just wanted this stupid mission over.

~

"Get out of there! Retreat back to the Quinjet, NOW." Cap's voice spoke through the coms. 

Bucky and Sam shared a look, before looking at where they were on one of the upper floors of a building with no exits in sight.

"Get out! It's going to explode!"

Okay, so, the mission hadn't gone well, admittedly. 

They were just sent to look at a little HYDRA base that they had gotten intel on. It was supposed to be a little tiny thing, but there had been more soldiers than expected, and apparently, a bomb?

That was new.

Sam looked to the staircase near them and pulled Bucky up a few flights, to the roof. It was the quickest exit and they needed an out, fast. He put out his wings and looked over to Bucky, whose eyes were wide.

"Uh uh, no way. I am not flying with you. Abso-lutely not."

"Come one, Buck. We need to get out of here."

"No. I will die here, then. Nope. not doing it. I hate heights."

Sam's eyes softened at Bucky's mention of heights. Of course he was scared of heights, how could he not be? "Take my hand, then."

"Nope. Even worse." Bucky shook his head violently, hair falling out of the little ponytail.

"It's not like I'm asking you to marry me! I'm trying to save your life, Jamie."

Oh Lordy. There was that nickname again.

Bucky reluctantly agreed, finally, and Sam picked him up bridal style. "Close your eyes, Buck. It's going to be a long flight."

Bucky didn't have time to relish in the fact that Sam was holding him before there was no solid ground anymore. Wind raced past him, and he squeezed his eyes shut firmly. Sam wouldn't let go, he wouldn't fall. That snow beneath him wouldn't cause him to wake up to torture, he was fine. HYDRA no longer had him in his clutches, he wouldn't open his eyes to see bloodstains on his hands and a body at his feet. Sam had him and he was safe-

Then, just as fast as they had taken off, they were on solid ground again. Or at least, on the quinjet. Bucky was reluctant to open his eyes again.

"You can let got of me now, you know."

oops.

He moved his arms from where they had been tightly would around Sam's neck, and stepped back immediately. They stood there silently before looking back at the building that they had been on. It was up in flames, rubble scattered around it.

"Let's go home, Bucky." Sam sighed, rubbing at his aching wounds.

Bucky couldn't agree more.

~

The next time that they both were up at ungodly hours in the morning, it was quiet. There were hardly any words spoken, and there didn't need to be. It was just the two of them, tired and yet so awake, noticing every movement of the other man, and loving the other so deeply.

They never talked about how the other was up because of nightmares, they never talked about much it hurt to love them silently. It didn't have to be said. They just knew.

Neither expected to fall asleep after what they had just dreamed, but after Bucky had popped in a movie and sat next to Sam, he couldn't help it. Sam was warm, so warm, a natural heater. And Bucky? Bucky was cold, a freezer to Sam's oven.

They woke up tangled around the other, warm, rested, happy. Sam didn't want to move, and when he looked into Bucky's eyes, he knew that moving was the last thing that Bucky wanted to do, too. So, they didn't. They stayed in a tight embrace, content to a level that neither had felt before. Until,

"Bucky. I have to pee."

"gnnnnnn...."

"Bucky, my arm fell asleep, get up."

"no- ow that was my hair- no that made it worse!"

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have happened if you had just gotten up first!"

"keep talking, birdbrain, and I'll shoot you before you can even try to breathe again- ow my hair!"

* * *

ok i'll stop with the winterfalcon...

for now