[ Bucky notices that particular tone, and funnily enough, it helps him relax -- he knows that tone, and he knows, with a certain warmth in his ribs, tentative but certain, that Bucky's the one that liked camping, not Steve. ]
We caught frogs.
[ By the muddy riverbank half a mile away from where they set up camp -- caught them, the slippery critters in their hands before they let them go. Birthdays after that were... well, nothing. Assets didn't have names, and they didn't have birthdays. A part of him wonders if Steve had thought about this when he'd woken up from the ice, the day that comes and passes. He wonders if he'd sat in his apartment during those days, a muffin just like this in his hand when the Winter Soldier is kept away like a toy that's outlived its use for the time being, dreaming of nothing.
He wonders what Steve thinks about.
Bucky is careful to reach for his free hand with his normal one, squeezing it gently before he leans forward to blow the candle flame out. Right here, right now, this is what matters. ]
no subject
We caught frogs.
[ By the muddy riverbank half a mile away from where they set up camp -- caught them, the slippery critters in their hands before they let them go. Birthdays after that were... well, nothing. Assets didn't have names, and they didn't have birthdays. A part of him wonders if Steve had thought about this when he'd woken up from the ice, the day that comes and passes. He wonders if he'd sat in his apartment during those days, a muffin just like this in his hand when the Winter Soldier is kept away like a toy that's outlived its use for the time being, dreaming of nothing.
He wonders what Steve thinks about.
Bucky is careful to reach for his free hand with his normal one, squeezing it gently before he leans forward to blow the candle flame out. Right here, right now, this is what matters. ]
...Thank you. You didn't have to.