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1945 - Germany
Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap.
Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap.
“Sergeant Barnes?”
Bucky glances up briefly, raising an eyebrow at Gabe. “Yes?”
“What’s that tapping?” Gabe asks.
Bucky glances down at his hands. He’s doing it again; he thought he’d trained himself to stop tapping along with the song years ago. Maybe it’s from something they did to him at Azzano, or maybe it’s just the war itself.
“Ah. Just a rhythm I keep hearing,” Bucky tells him, curling his hands into fists and shoving them into his coat pockets.
“From your soulmate?”
Bucky frowns, not wanting to get into this conversation. It is from his soulmate, it has to be; the only problem is, Bucky’s never heard the song anywhere but in his head. He’s not even sure what instruments are used, it certainly doesn’t sound like anything they’ve heard on the radio. And the lyrics don’t make any sense - I’m let loose from the noose that’s kept me hanging about - well, they’re about escaping death, that much is obvious. It feels appropriate, even if it feels completely foreign.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Bucky finally says.
Gabe’s grin flashes as he grabs a seat next to Bucky. “Have you met them yet?”
Bucky’s jaw clenches momentarily before he forces himself to relax. “Not yet. Maybe after we go home.” He sees Steve exit a tent and jumps to his feet. “I’ll see you at dinner, Private.”
He strides over to meet Steve. They have a mission to plan.
1985 - New York
Tony slides over to make room on the piano bench for his mother. She sits beside him, smiling at the music.
“I do like this song,” she comments as he finishes.
“You like every Gershwin song,” Told teases her.
Maria smiles at him and presses a kiss to his cheek. “You’re right, I do. What’s your favorite?”
Tony thinks for a moment. He often finds himself humming “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” although that isn’t his favorite. His fingers start picking out the tune anyway.
“Oh, this one,” Maria coos at him. “Fred Astaire sang it in Shall We Dance.”
Tony rolls his eyes but smiles, singing along with her.
“The way your smile just beams, the way you sing off key…”
2012 - New York
“Hey Cap, thanks for taking me up on my offer,” Tony greets Steve as he steps off the elevator into the newly-renamed Avenger Tower penthouse.
“Well, it was here or a barracks room back at SHIELD,” Steve responds. “And honestly, you don’t stare at me like the SHIELD agents do.”
Tony’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “They’re still doing that?”
Steve rolls his eyes. “Aren’t you the one who takes an extra hour after a mission just to take phone pictures with everyone?”
“They’re called selfies, Cap, and that’s different. I’m Iron Man when I do that. People aren’t crowding into my lab while I’m trying to work. You should be able to get breakfast without being treated like a…museum artifact.” Tony grimaces at his attempted joke.
If Steve is offended, he doesn’t show it. “Anyway, thanks, Tony. I really appreciate you letting us stay here.”
“Don’t mention it! So, do you want the tour?”
Steve has seen a good amount of the tower already, in the days after the Battle of New York when they were still cleaning up. But these floors have been rebuilt, specifically to house the Avengers. He notes the gym and training rooms with interest, and raises an eyebrow at the kitchen - Tony Stark does not strike him as someone who cooks, so this must have been designed by someone else. When they reach the research lab, Tony stops and spins around to face him.
“So, before we go in, I just want to warn you that there’s a lot going on in here and it might be overwhelming, so just tell me if you need to beat a retreat,” he tells Steve.
“Tony, we’ve fought aliens who came pouring out of a portal in the sky, I doubt a bunch of computers are going to scare me,” Steve laughs.
Tony’s lips quirk at that. “Yeah, well mostly it’s because these walls? Are completely soundproofed.” He taps a code into the keypad.
The doors slide open no more than an inch, and Steve is blasted with the sound of rock music. He offers a pained smile, then gestures his hand in a down motion.
Tony nods and shouts, “J, turn it down please, we’ve got visitors.” This last is said at a normal volume, as the music lowers to a much more reasonable level.
“Thanks, Tony, this is - wait, can you turn it back up a bit?” Steve recognizes this song. Or at least, he thinks he does. “Tony, this song.”
“What’s that? Too modern for you? I hate to break it to you, but this album is over 30 years old now, I’ve had it memorized since I was ten.” Tony’s expression turns from amusement, to confusion, when he realizes that Steve is reciting the lyrics. “Uh, Cap? Explain?”
Steve shakes his head. “Bucky used to sing this.”
Tony’s eyebrow shoots up. “Okay, I know I said this album is old but it’s not Howling Commandos old.”
“Bucky used to sing this. He said he never knew what kind of instrument it was, but he could tap out the rhythm and he could sing the lyrics.” Steve looks at Tony in wonderment. “Do you have any particular songs you hear? One that tends to just pop into your head, that you can’t get rid of?”
“Like an earworm? Sure, they happen all the time. What’s your point?”
Steve manages to stop himself from sighing in exasperation. “There’s no way Bucky could hear a song from almost 40 years in the future, only in his head, unless it was from his soulmate.”
Tony’s eyes widen in shock. “J, cut the sound.” The lab goes silent.
He closes his eyes and takes a measured breath, then another.
Steve watches him with concern. “Tony?”
Tony shakes his head slightly. His lips move, barely a hint of sound but Steve can hear him anyway.
“The way you sing off-key, the way you haunt my dreams…”
“That was one of Bucky’s favorites,” Steve says gently.
Tony shakes his head again, more firmly this time. “So I had a soulmate, but he died before I was born. That’s…that’s just great.”
“Tony, I’m so-”
“No. Don’t do that. Just…tell me about him?”
2014 - Washington, DC
Steve dials Tony’s cell phone with his heart in his throat. Or maybe that’s just the bruising; he’s healing faster than the doctors have ever seen - still excruciatingly slow, but if Steve wasn’t a super soldier he’d have died on the helicarrier anyway.
Tony picks up almost immediately.
“Captain Rogers, what the hell is going on down there? Are you okay?”
Steve manages to croak out a “no” before Sam hands him his water cup. Steve gratefully takes several sips before attempting to speak again. “Tony, I’m sorry for the mess. SHIELD is HYDRA.”
“Yes, I’m getting that from the data our little miss spider decided to dump on the internet.” Tony sounds impatient; he has good reason to. “That’s a whole other mess we’ve got to clean-”
“Bucky’s alive.”
Tony is silent for a long moment. “You’re sure?”
“He saved me.” Steve takes a steadying breath, relieved when it isn’t nearly as painful as it was this morning. “But there’s something you need to know.”
“I’m putting on the suit, I’ll be there in two hours. We’ll find him.”
“Tony, he’s the Winter Soldier.”
More silence. Steve knows he’s been out for a couple of days already; it’s likely that Tony will have read the files about his parents’ assassinations. Steve lets his head fall back onto the pillow, waiting for Tony to say something.
“Well, that sucks.”
Steve can’t deny that it does.
“Two hours, Steve. We’ll find him.”
2016 - Bucharest
Tony slips through the door after Steve, surveying the small apartment with an odd mixture of sadness and pride. Sadness, because it’s very clear James Buchanen Barnes lives a very lonely, isolated life. But Tony is proud of his soulmate for breaking free of HYDRA, for staying undetected for so long, for surviving in spite of everything.
Steve pulls a slim book down from its perch on top of the refrigerator. It’s clearly a journal, and Tony bites back a comment about not touching other people’s belongings. He’s not much better, picking up an old walkman - where the hell did he even find a cassette player in this century - and pressing the play button.
I got nine lives, cat’s eyes
Tony hits the stop button immediately.
“We shouldn’t be here,” he breathes. “Steve, we should-”
He freezes when he looks up. The Winter Soldier is standing in front of them, eyeing them both warily.
“Do you know me?” Steve asks quietly.
“Yes,” he replies. “You’re Avengers. Why are you here?”
Tony swallows all his anxieties to answer. “Officially, we’re here to take you into custody until the investigation into the UN bombing is finished. Unofficially, though…you wouldn’t happen to be a fan of Fred Astaire, would you?”