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It felt strange to resent Steve for it, when his best friend was on the verge of dying every new season, but somehow Bucky still managed to do it, every time he saw his friend's soulmark.
Now, don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t want his friend to die. But, he couldn’t help but feel he would die soon as he didn’t have a mark and Steve did. So every year since they met, Bucky would take a long walk around New York to try and forget that this may very well be the last season for Steve, the last winter with his yearly pneumonia, the last spring and his never ending asthma.
Bucky knew he would die before Steve, so he did everything he could to keep Steve alive year after year. Well, he also wanted his best friend to live, it wasn’t 100% selfish. But still, he managed to feel guilty every time Steve pulled through for another year.
That is until the war came. Steve was determined to enroll, what with his soulmark only saying “Captain!”, he felt it was the right way to go about meeting his fate. There were not many females in the army but it didn’t bother either of them, whoever fate chose for you, she choosed well.
Bucky, however, was determined to keep him out of it. At least until he died, then Steve could do whatever he wanted to find his match, but first Bucky had to die, it was the only explanation.
—--------------------
When Steve came to rescue him. Bucky thought he was hallucinating. Not only was the Jerk taller and muscler, but he was right there, in an Hydra base in the middle of the war, with a cotton costume and a ridiculous shield. The goal of Bucky’s enrollment was to keep Steve home and alive! Not to have him going through experimental treatment to come join him in the battlefield.
“So, Captain America?” Bucky teased.
“It’s not as if I chose it for myself. Stark saw it before the experiment and decided it was going to be my name,” Steve answered embarrassed. “He’ll be there tomorrow with the team of doctors meant to examine you all after the time you spent at the plant. Something about radiation. They need to check before they send the commando out.”
Bucky almost choked on his beer.
“Yeah, respectfully, my captain, I’m gonna pass on that,” Bucky told him with a wince.
Bucky had good reasons to want to stay away from Stark. He didn’t know what Hydra did to him, but he now had a soulmark. And the name Stark was mentioned. Not Howard, maybe a brother, someone named Tony. He also knew Tony was Steve’s mate and he wasn’t too keen on showing this to the army. He didn’t know if they'd send Steve home or to get an exorcism. Bucky didn’t mind, but the army did. You’d think they would be happy to have same sex couples around, no kids to send back bodies in a box to, and a partner with a good chance to be injured or killed in the same attack. But no, they were just as discriminating as the church. Same sex marks were meant to be platonic and nothing else. He didn’t know how Howard would react and from what he gathered Howard was important to the war effort and to the team.
The next day, Bucky was unable to escape the physical. It was physical or home. He might have a soulmark now, but he wouldn’t let his jerk of a best friend go into battle without him.
The nurse took notes of everything the doctor asked while Stark was waving several contraptions around him, nodding every now and then.
“Soulmark?”
“Excuse me what,” Bucky had been distracted and only caught the last word of the question.
“Do you have any soulmark,” the doctor asked again. “We’ll need to check it, make sure it wasn’t affected.”
Bucky panicked, thankfully all three people with him in the room seem to think it was at the idea of his mark being affected, not what the mark itself would reveal.
“We’re going to do a full exam anyway,” the doctor kept going. “We need to document it. New rules for body identification since the Germans took to stealing the tags out.”
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! This could not be happening. Whether he showed Stark now, or he sees it in his file, either way he will see it.
“Can you leave me alone for a while? I need to process this,” Bucky asked and they nodded, all three of them going to the door.
He grabbed Howard’s arm and kept him in the room.
“You’re a strange dude, Barnes, even for a friend of Steve.”
“I get that a lot,” Bucky assured him. “It’s the mark, it can’t be on any file, ever.”
“Why?”
Bucky didn’t even try to argue with him, he removed his right sock and showed the skin under his foot to Howard Stark.
“Okay, we’re not writing this anywhere,” Howard agreed, his eyes blown up in surprise. “Did you show him?”
“No, it’s not in any place he can see, and he knows I didn’t have one before,” Bucky admitted.
“We’ll keep to the “you have no mark” thing,” Howard nodded.
—--------------------------
Of course, fate hated him and he would still die before Steve, or so he thought, as he fell from the train.
The few memories he had of his time with Hydra’s scientist were focused on his arm, but he knew they were exasperated; they could not alter his mark in any way. Bucky was only glad the mark was still there. Between that and Steve, he was pulling from Hydra’s brainwashing faster than anyone thought he would.
When he was finally allowed to move into the compound proper and not just the medical bay, he noticed how Steve and Tony would bicker, but it seemed to be the only thing between them. What kind of mark did Tony have that they didn’t know they were soulmates?
“Mr. Stark!” Natalia said as she sat next to him on the couch. “Tony’s mark says “Mr. Stark.”. I didn’t say anything, I’m waiting for the day they just snap and go on with the hate fuck and ennemies to lover tropes.”
Thankfully, Bucky knew what she meant. “And, no one else is saying anything?”
“We don’t see each other naked,” Natalia reminded him. “Even the decontamination showers have separate stalls.”
“Then how do you know?”
“I spied on Tony for SHIELD before the Avengers formed a team,” Natalia told him. “He was dying and self-destructing, I’ve seen him naked once or twice. Or, you know? Watch his sex tapes online and you’ll know.”
“Yeah, no thanks,” Bucky commented.
“And, I saw Steve’s when we were on the run from SHIELD,” she explained.
“But, they've seen each other's writing,” Bucky pointed out.
“I think they are in denial, and they will be until you meet your mate,”Natalia told him with a raised eyebrow.
“Wait,” he turned to her, “how do you know my mark? Even Steve doesn’t know I have one.”
“I haven’t seen yours, but I’ve seen hers.” She waggled her eyebrows at him and disappeared.
Bucky knew three things, he didn’t need to move, Natalia was already hidden somewhere he won’t find her; his soulmate was a woman -not that he would have cared-, she was part of the people living at the compound, no other reason for Natalia to see under her feet. Because yes, the marks were on the same part of the body for each pair, so he knew hers would be under her feet as well.
It took about a month before someone gave an exasperated sigh as everyone was enjoying the latest Tony/Steve argument. At least, they had Pop-corn.
“I’ll give you my first born if you give me blackmail on Steve,” Bucky didn’t move he knew she wasn’t done, “I’ll give you blackmail on Tony in exchange. I don’t want to read a headline saying Tony Stark and Steve Rogers killed each other because they were too stupid to know they were soulmates.”
“Deal, because I may go all Winter Soldier on them if they don’t get their shit together,” Bucky answered, looking right at her.
And, what a sight she was. Bucky was ignoring Steve and Tony spluttering and asking for an explanation. She was everything dreams were made off in the ‘40s, long dark curly hair. Curves women would have died for at several points in history, which was perfection -in his opinion- compared to the skinny women of this century. Full lips, with a dark shade lipstick. Blue eyes he wanted to get lost in.
Steve stopped arguing when he heard his tight voice and her loud intake of breath, and asked,
“You have a soulmark?”
“I’ve gained one from the experiments in Italy,” he answered without
“And you didn’t say anything,” Steve asked him accusingly.
“And spoil everyone’s bet? No way.”
Tony was looking at him as he did a new project.
“Howard knew, didn’t he?”
“He was the only one who knew and helped me hide it, both for Steve’s sake and because he found it hilarious.”
“You mean he called me Tony because of your mark? And, he kept looking for the Captain to find my soulmate?” Tony’s voice showed he had a hard time believing it.
“I think you’re missing the main point of our marks,” his soulmate told them. “I am going to take Bucky out for coffee, and maybe even lunch and dinner, we’ll see if we remember to eat. And, you two get your shit together before we use our marks against you!”
She turned back to him. “HI, I’m Darcy, if you want to know anything else about me, let's get away from everyone who would be nosy. I can hear you, Barton!” She told the ceiling vent.
She took his hand and led him to the elevator separating the Avengers level from the working levels and the compound entree.
“So, about this first born, do you have a name in mind, and a timetable,” Bucky asked, making her laugh so hard it resonated against the walls when they stepped into the elevator.
“Traitor!” He heard Steve say before the elevator closed.
Hopefully, by the time they got back to the compound Steve would be busy elsewhere and more thankful than annoyed.