Stench permeated the air. Dirt flew up in clots, raining back down on them so light if felt like rain. Bodies, layered over one another, piled up in the trench, and right in the thick of it was them. They weren't supposed to get involved with the ground troops. The Howling Commandos were an elite task force, specialized for ops and missions that weren't designated to the regular fellow. But Bucky had seen the hundreds, maybe a thousand, men down in the valley killing themselves for their country, and he couldn't stand by and watch. 

Like hell Steve was letting him run into the middle of a hot zone by himself. 

They were hunkered down under the haze of gun powder and blood spray. Sergeant Barnes was picking off sharpshooters from the other side- the Germans, the Italians; he couldn't tell in the chaos. They shouldn't have even been there. The Commandos had finished a mission, clean and quiet, and needed to get out of enemy territory afterwards. They'd wandered until coming to a stop in a defensible alcove in the forest. It was just their luck that they woke up the next day to a battle not two miles away. 

Bucky saw it as fate. Steve saw it as bad luck. People always assumed Steve was the upright pillar and Bucky the troubled young man. They had it all wrong. Steve didn't like bullies, but he wasn't willing to risk Bucky's life unnecessarily for anything, not even his country. Bucky had no such qualms. He would've died any day to do what's right. To be fair, if the shoe were on the other foot, Bucky wouldn't have let Steve go running into a gun fight alone either. Maybe they were each other's fatal flaw. 

"We have to get to that bunker," Bucky advised. "We'll never take them down if they keep that shelter up."

Steve flicked his eyes to the thick stone building that was holding a few dozen men. No matter how hard our troops pushed, they always met that stone wall and fell before it, sprayed with bullet holes. "We have to get around to the back." Sergeant Barnes nodded in agreement. "I'll take the East side, you go around West. Stay low and take backup."

The brunet got onto his knees and checked that his gun was loaded and clear. "No thanks," Bucky refused.

Cap grabbed Bucky by the shoulder more firmly than he meant to. "Take backup."

Bucky's face went from determined to offended and he shook Steve off. "I can do it alone."

Steve pushed Bucky backwards until he fell to the bottom of the ditch, rolling and landing on his back and looking up at Steve incredulously. The blond fell on top of him and pressed the butt of his gun into Bucky's chest. "You try to go out there alone and I'll go after you, then we'll both fail. Do you want to save a couple of men or hundreds?" When Bucky's face went soft, Steve ducked down and let his forehead rest against Bucky's. "I don't doubt you can do it alone, but you don't have to."

Being so close, the smell of dirt and death faded away and Steve let the scent of Bucky wash over him. He never used to be so emotional, but he never had to directly worry about losing Bucky either. Now, he sent Bucky- his whole team- out to do things that might mean he wouldn't come back. The tiny moments in the midst of mayhem were Steve's only reprieve. "Steve," Bucky whispered. "We have to go."

Steve opened his eyes again and saw Bucky smiling softly up at him. He nodded solemnly and lifted himself off his best friend, his- "Take backup." 

"I'm taking backup," Bucky conceded and picked him helmet up from where it'd fallen when he rolled down the mud hill. "So pushy."

"I'll show you pushy," Steve muttered and shoved Bucky playfully. They sat, looking at each other for another silent moment before separating and picking out men to take with them. They walked, squatted, crawled out as far as they could from the bulk of the fighting, and dove into the thin cover of forest on either side of the open field. Steve had lost sight of Bucky long ago, but he still found himself looking out across the battlefield and searching for him.

"Captain?" Steve turned to one of the men, a private, that he'd picked up. The kid- he had to be a kid, seventeen, eighteen, but he was one of the few that weren't badly injured- pointed behind Steve. The blond turned and saw what the kid was referring to. The bunker was backed up against the forest line and there was a large hole in the bottom corner where a tree had grown through. 

"Good job, kid."

"Private, sir."

Steve nodded. "Private." They kept ducking through the trees, taking out the spattering of soldiers they came across with knives and hands to stay as silent as possible. They reached the back side of the bunker and saw a much larger force not ten feet away waiting to come out to meet the US when needed. When those troops met our forces, it'd be over. Steve turned and ordered, quiet and cautious, "Stay low. Take it slow. Watch my back. I'll get in there and take out as many as I can." Steve nodded to the black man, a corporal, with the shoulder wound. "Take out the ones that come to back them up." He nodded to the private. "Keep people off him while he works."

"Sir, you're going to take out the bunker alone?" the private asked.

Steve smiled. "I won't be alone." He turned and crawled through the brush towards the bunker. He reached the corner and checked both sides before pulling the remaining branches out of the ground to open the hole big enough to crawl inside. He got on his stomach, gun at his side and ducked his head into the hole. Most of the men were facing away, towards the battlefield, and leaning out small windows and shoving their guns through peepholes. A few were walking around, reloading ammunitions piles and passing along orders. He could take out the ones with their guns up and loaded while they were turned away- Steve couldn't believe he was planning on shooting men in the backs- then go for the ones who's guns were hung on their shoulders or sitting on the ground.

Just as he'd decided he heard a ruckus at the other end of the bunker and laughed to himself. Bucky always beat him to the punch. The men's attention drew the other direction and Steve took the opportunity to get in and start taking them down shot by shot. They fell quickly; he didn't waste bullets- one to the head, move on. By the time the men got themselves together, Steve was walking over bodies in the cramped space and could just see a flash of movement through the thready remnants of enemy soldiers. 

He shot another down and saw Bucky, back turned to him, taking out two more. One last man had decided that between the two, Cap or Bucky, he'd rather take on Bucky, and had the barrel of his gun pointed at the back of Bucky's head.

Bad choice. 

Steve pulled out his knife as he let his gun fall to his side and dug it into the juncture between the officer's neck and shoulder. Bucky turned just as he pulled the blade out and blood splattered across his and Steve's faces. Steve let the man slump to the floor, leaving them alone in a mass of dead bodies, panting and filthy. Bucky pulled the edge of his jacket up and wiped the blood off his face, leaving a faint red streak in its place. Steve didn't move, couldn't move, so Bucky lifted the other hem and wiped Steve's face for him. 

"Thanks," Bucky offered and pried the knife from Steve's clenched fingers. The Captain nodded dumbly. Bucky wiped the knife off, too, and sheathed it in Steve's belt before taking both of Steve's hands in his and placing them on his own chest. They did this sometimes after a fight, after a close call. Steve just needed to know that Bucky was okay, that we was alive. So Bucky had taken to putting Steve's hands on him- his neck, his face, his wrists- wherever Steve could feel his pulse pumping, his lungs expanding, his heart beating. 

Steve melted into the touch, stepping closer and letting his head fall to Bucky's shoulder. "I'm okay," Bucky was reassuring, but Steve nuzzled into his neck anyway. "I'm okay."

Outside, our men were storming the line, pushing the Germans back and taking the field. Inside, Bucky wrapped his arms around Steve's still body and pulled them together, pressing his face into Steve's dirty hair. They stood like that, tangled and quiet, for another long minute until Steve spoke softly, breath hot against Bucky's neck. "We should get out there and help them."

"Yeah, we should," the Sergeant concurred. "Later, let's go down to the river." Steve hummed and tugged on Bucky's torn shirt before dropping his hands and picking up his gun. 

They won, if you could win something like war, and sent word back to HQ that the infantry was regrouping in nearby friendly territory. When Bucky and Steve returned to the Howling Commandos reeking of piss and blood and covered in mud, they received resigned head shakes and a scoff from Dernier. They washed off in a stream down the way, taking slow, leisurely strokes in the water and bobbing around each other in silence. 

Bucky floated over to him and rubbed his washcloth over Steve's neck and shoulder. The other man just closed his eyes and let Bucky clean him. "You know," Bucky ventured, measured and easy, "I would've taken backup if you hadn't of said anything."

Steve's eyes popped open and he looked at Bucky in confusion. "Then why'd you make such a big deal out of it?"

Sergeant Barnes dipped the cloth under the water and brought it back up to rub at Steve's chest. "Because you were so," he huffed, "motherly about it- like I was some kid that needed to be checked."

"So, you contradicted me out of spite?" Steve questioned, hand gripping Bucky's hip a little too hard. "We're out there putting our lives on the line. You could die any time, and you want to go and do something unsafe to flick your thumb at me? Bucky, Jesus Chr-"

Bucky groaned, loud and obnoxious. "I shouldn't have said anything. Geez, Steve, I was trying to make you feel better." He pushed back away from Steve and dunked himself under the water, flipping and swimming away through the clear water. He reemerged about ten feet away, hair hanging wetly in his face. "It's my job to worry about you, Stevie," he called back. "Always has been."

Steve rolled his eyes and walked towards the bank of the river, the water receding further down his body until he was standing on dry ground, naked and annoyed with water droplets collecting in the dip back. Bucky was poised to say something else, something snarky, but the words die on his lips when Steve turned around and Bucky saw he was half hard, thick and flushing pink. "You're insufferable, you know that?" the Captain accused. 

"I've heard," Bucky allowed and waded his way across the river. "Mostly from you, but hey..." He reached the edge of the water, the liquid line swaying against his hips. His eyes wandered up Steve's body, from his knobby toes to his long legs to his curved, hard dick. He stopped and swallowed at the promise. "I take it you're not made at me anymore."

"No, I'm angry as hell, Bucky."

"Could've fooled me."

Steve reached out and when Bucky took his hand, he pulled the other man out of the water to stand in front of him. "I can't help that your impertinence turns me on."

Bucky raised a brow as he brushed past Steve and picked up his clothes. "Look at you, Oxford. Someone swallowed a dictionary."

"I'll swallow you, you little..." Steve grabbed his clothes, too, and suddenly the chase was on. 

"Promises!" Bucky yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted through the soft grass. "Have to catch me first!" The brunet ducked his head and ran faster, his hair flapping in the wind. He had always been the fast one of the two.

His world turned sideways as his feet left the ground. An arm instinctively went around the mass of human that'd picked him up. "Not so fast anymore, Buck." Steve had an arm under his back and one under his knees, holding him like a proper girl. He kissed Bucky square on the cheek, lips smacking obnoxiously. 

"That's cheating," Bucky complained petulantly. "You can't use the serum."

"I can't not use the serum," Steve exasperated. They'd had this mock fight a million and one times. He placated Bucky with a kiss to the chin, then the temple. The defeated man hummed and pulled himself up with the arm around Steve's neck to kiss him back, on the mouth that time. Steve slowed to a stop as their lips moved together, hungry but patient, in a kiss that felt like coming home. It'd been so long since he'd kissed Bucky, really kissed him. He spent time feeling out the spaces of Bucky's mouth, licking across his tongue and into the hollow at the roof. Bucky moaned and dropped his clothes to use both arms to pull Steve harder against him.

The Captain pulled back with a nip to Bucky's lip, panting like he never did in combat. "We need to get to my tent. Now."

Bucky tweaked a nipple, making Steve drop his clothes, too. "Right here."

"Buck."

Bucky flicked Steve's hand away from under his knees and Steve loosened his hold enough for Bucky to use his arms around Steve's neck as leverage to swing one leg across and straddle Steve without stepping a toe on the ground. The blonde laughed and then moaned when Bucky ground his ass down on his aching cock. You really think you're going to make it to the tent?"

Steve huffed, defiant, and started walking, despite how the tip of his dick brushed the crack of Bucky's ass with each step. "I would really really like to fuck you, Bucky, and the field doesn't provide Vaseline as far as I know, so we're going to the tent." Bucky was smiling wide, devious and proud as all get out. He ducked in and sucked the sensitive skin against Steve's jugular between his teeth. Steve stumbled a step before regaining his gait. "Jesus Christ, Buck." He reached a hand down and groped Bucky's ass as the finally made it to the edge of the tiny camp the Commandos had set up.

They walked past Morita, who shielded his eyes and gave them an annoyed, "Come on, guys." He was the only casualty they encountered that late at night. They made it to Steve's tent just as Bucky was licking over the blooming mark he'd left.

"It'll be gone by tomorrow," Steve reminded him.

"Then, I'll have to do it again tomorrow," Bucky shot back. Steve dropped him on the unrolled pad and pulled his small bag to him before rummaging around in it frantically. Bucky leaned on his elbows, watching his best friend with fond amusement. "My dick's gonna fall off if you don't hurry."

"Shut up. We haven't..." He furrowed his brows and dug deeper, "in a while. It's in here." He yanked out a small glass jar wrapped in cloth with a triumphant grin. Bucky hummed approvingly and laid back, legs spreading wide as Steve knelt between them. The blond unwrapped the lube and opened the lid while Bucky kept a lazy hand stoking up and down his flushed shaft. "Come here," Steve urged and pulled Bucky closer by his thigh before lifting his leg up onto his wide shoulder. 

Bucky hooked his knee further around Steve's body and pulled him down into a kiss, his own leg pressed back against the bed pad. They groaned together as Steve pressed the tips of two slick, sticky fingers to Bucky's hole. Barnes gasped at the contact and arched into his lover's touch. One finger pushed in, the pressure sending shockwaves of heat up Bucky's spine. "Oh, shit," Bucky murmured, face twisting into a mix of pain and pleasure. 

"I know. I've got you." Steve gripped Bucky's ass in his hand and pulled his cheeks open wide to push his finger in further, little by little. Bucky's mouth dropped open on a silent moan followed by a vocal one when Steve curled his finger up to let Bucky feel him in his most precious spot. The bottom rolled his hips on Steve's finger, giving him the signal to move it along. Steve kissed up and down Bucky's jaw as he pumped his first finger in and out until Bucky was humming comfortably and stroking his fingers through Steve's hair.

As a second finger went in next to the first, Steve opened Bucky's mouth with his and sucked the other man tongue between his lips. Bucky moaned into his mouth and wrapped his arm tight around Steve's neck, keeping him there with all his might. Steve fingered Bucky open, in and out and then stretching him wide. "Steve- fuck, Steve. Just do it already."

Steve nipped at Bucky's lip in reprimand for breaking their kiss but pulled his fingers out and grabbed the jar. He scooped two fingers of the jelly out and took a deep breath before wrapping his hand around his aching cock. He couldn't help the tortured groan that fell from his lips at the contact; he was so hard it was starting to hurt. Bucky reached a hand up and thumbed over one of Steve's pert nipple, taking the bud between his fingers and tugging, making a blurt of precum drip from Steve's slit. Steve collapsed forward and let his head thud against Bucky's breastbone as he gasped for a steady breath. 

"Okay, stop. Stop," Steve begged and pushed Bucky's hand away. "I don't want to come yet."

Instead, Bucky's hand smoothed down the plane of Steve's chest, around his side to pull him in by his ass. The tip of Steve's dick slipped against Bucky's taint and the Captain huffed out a shocked breath of air before tilting himself down and pressing against Bucky's stretched entrance. He pushed his head inside and bit down on Bucky's meaty chest, right between his collar bone and nipple. Bucky urged him on, one hand in his hair, one hand on his ass, and his leg bent over his shoulder. 

Steve held his breath until he'd slid home, balls pressed to Bucky's ass and his walls clenching on Steve's swollen shaft. When he felt his hips meet warm skin, Steve let the air he'd been holding go as he kissed up the side of Bucky's neck, letting him adjust. "Love you, Buck. I love you so much."

"While we're fucking it doesn't count," Bucky reminded but returned Steve's kiss. Steve laughed, breathless and incredulous against Bucky's lips, murmuring against them while he continued to kiss him. 

"Remind me to tell you after you come then."

"We'll never get there if you don't move, you loaf," Bucky complained and squeezed Steve's ass. The blond shook his head fondly and spread his knees for leverage. The first thrust crowded Bucky's vision with black dots and made him throw his head back on a moan. "Yeah."

Steve smirked proudly and pushed in again. Bucky had never been quiet in bed, and being in enemy territory during a world war didn't change that one bit. It was one reason they didn't get to have sex near as often as Steve wanted. He could never keep Bucky quiet. But out in the wilderness, after driving the nearest forces to a retreat, they were as safe as they were going to get for a long time. 

He let Bucky moan and gasp, enjoying the scrunch of his face or the frantic lick of lips. The Captain felt fire simmering in his gut and thrust in harder, making Bucky clench on him like a vice. "Oh, fuck," Bucky cursed harshly and arched off the ground, angling Steve into just the right spot. Bucky whimpered- actually fucking whimpered- and his hand flew over from Steve's ass to his own cock, yanking on himself while Steve hit his prostate with a grunt. 

"Buck," Steve whispered, almost like a plea. Bucky answered in kind by pulling his best friend down into a kiss. Well, less of a kiss and more sharing their air while Steve's pace went carnal. Bucky's hand slowed, overwhelmed by the feeling of Steve deep inside him, ripping him open from his curled toes to his flushed ears. He gripped Steve's short hair in his finger, white knuckling as he felt pleasure boil over. 

Steve smacked Bucky's hand away and replaced it with his own just as Bucky scratched down the back of Steve's neck and loosed a moan that was sure to wake the whole camp, his seed spurting up his abdomen and over Steve's fingers. The blond pulled him through it before sitting up and placing both hand on Bucky's shaking hips, sticky fingers leaving prints on his skin, and pulling Bucky back on him as he pistoned into him. Bucky was inhaling sharply the more sensitive he got, and gripped Steve's bicep to ground himself as his love pushed in one last time and filling him with cum. 

Steve's fingers dug into Bucky's hips as he let his head fall back, hips rolling languidly to finish himself off. There would be bruises on Bucky later but he never minded. The blond pulled out and fell next to the brunet, chest heaving for air. Bucky backhanded the other man's chest and allowed, "You can tell me now." Steve laughed and rolled onto his side to kiss Bucky's sweaty cheek. 

"I do love you, Bucky Barnes."

*** 

Wow oh fucking wow. I was having a shit-tastic day yesterday and really needed to write something short and angsty and smutty and there you go. Those two fuck me up, seriously man. 

COMMENTS AND VOTES! MWAH!! Xoxo