The second time is as good as the first. Steve regains his thoughts enough to sit up and watch Bucky come a second time. He can feel the mess he makes against his skin, warmth spreading as proof of what they've done. He can feel Bucky's pleasure from the inside, this time. The way his body pulses with it and tenses up before relaxing. It's enough to milk Steve dry with a few whimpers of his own and then just flop, exhausted against his friend and love.
His heart soars with the words Bucky says against his lips. Gently, Steve eases his way free of Bucky's body so he can lay beside him. Pull the man into his arms and just relish the afterglow. They're completely filthy and Bucky is probably sore, but that is things they can deal with another time. Sometime after, when the sun is up and Steve can watch dawn rise along the hills and shadows of Bucky's face.
He kisses the tip of Bucky's nose and then his lips. No rush. No desperation. Nothing but love pouring out of him and into the heart he'd given his best friend so long ago, never to reclaim. This close Steve can feel it beat. He closes his eyes to enjoy it as anyone would with a musical masterpiece.
"We have time, now," Steve says. He opens his eyes and finds Bucky's. With everything that's changed, those were the same eyes that looked back at him before they closed inside a cryotube. And maybe, just maybe, that meant they had time in the future, too.
He can't hope. Hope is the way to a broken heart. But he can wait. Lord knows he's good enough at that. He can wait and see what the future has in store for them both. And right now he can just enjoy what it has given him here.
Steve kisses Bucky again, taking his time with it. Rolling onto his back and pulling Bucky closer to change their position. Another drawing he'll need to do to add to his growing list.
"You could say it," he whispers between them, caring nothing for what this might do to the past or the future or anything else. "You could tell me anytime you want because I know that I loved you in back alley fights and smokey dance halls and in army tents...just as much as I love you here and now. There's never been a time I didn't love you, Buck. And there never will be."
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His heart soars with the words Bucky says against his lips. Gently, Steve eases his way free of Bucky's body so he can lay beside him. Pull the man into his arms and just relish the afterglow. They're completely filthy and Bucky is probably sore, but that is things they can deal with another time. Sometime after, when the sun is up and Steve can watch dawn rise along the hills and shadows of Bucky's face.
He kisses the tip of Bucky's nose and then his lips. No rush. No desperation. Nothing but love pouring out of him and into the heart he'd given his best friend so long ago, never to reclaim. This close Steve can feel it beat. He closes his eyes to enjoy it as anyone would with a musical masterpiece.
"We have time, now," Steve says. He opens his eyes and finds Bucky's. With everything that's changed, those were the same eyes that looked back at him before they closed inside a cryotube. And maybe, just maybe, that meant they had time in the future, too.
He can't hope. Hope is the way to a broken heart. But he can wait. Lord knows he's good enough at that. He can wait and see what the future has in store for them both. And right now he can just enjoy what it has given him here.
Steve kisses Bucky again, taking his time with it. Rolling onto his back and pulling Bucky closer to change their position. Another drawing he'll need to do to add to his growing list.
"You could say it," he whispers between them, caring nothing for what this might do to the past or the future or anything else. "You could tell me anytime you want because I know that I loved you in back alley fights and smokey dance halls and in army tents...just as much as I love you here and now. There's never been a time I didn't love you, Buck. And there never will be."