Bucky stands in the middle of a meadow, the light breeze gently whipping his hair back. He has his hands inside his jeans' pockets as he watches the sun slowly lowers down and hides itself behind a distant hill. To his right side is a treeline that continues on into a forest and to his left stands a two-storey country house. It's an old house but recent renovations sure cheered it up a lot, making it decent and habitable.

It has been eight months since they rescued Natasha in Austria and they all seemed to have gone back to normal. Clint's back with his family, taking in Wanda under his wing again. Sam is back in DC and based on his last message to Steve, he is currently dating a dynamite woman. Then he and Steve made a few changes too after that, the most drastic of them all was Steve deciding to leave Brooklyn and buying a property miles and miles away from the city. He remembers the day Steve brought him to the property for the first time.

"How could you even afford this?" Bucky asked, his eyes wide in amazement as he looked around, seeing the vast land, the hills and forest that surround them. "I thought you used your army back pay to buy that Brooklyn apartment."

"I sold it and believe it or not, this is - Tony. I finally took his offer," Steve replied with a soft smile.

Bucky looked at him with eyebrows raised, "That's nice of him. Still apologizing to you, I see."

"I guess."

"Everyone knows about this?"

"No, not everyone. Only four people and I'd like to keep that circle small."

Bucky smiled and nodded at Steve in understanding.

"Come on, let's look at the house. I'll even let you choose your room first," Steve said and they started walking towards the house.

"Thanks for this, Steve," Bucky said, a heartfelt smile on his face.

Steve clapped him on the shoulder and said, "You're family, Buck. You know that. It's your home too. I just hope a room is okay with you. I can't give you your own hut like T'Challa. But if you want, we can build a gazebo there, and get you goats and sheep too. I didn't peg you for a farmer but, hey, whatever floats your boat, right?"

Bucky's cheeks reddened, knowing Steve is referring to his life back in Wakanda, and tried to hide his slight embarrassment with a chuckle. "Hey, I make a pretty decent farmer. We might just try that here!" They both broke into laughter as they entered the house.

"Hey, it's your turn to make dinner!" a voice shouts from a distance.

Bucky snaps out of his reminiscing when he hears Steve's voice from the house, a little muffled and easily carried away by the sunset breeze. He turns around and starts walking back to the house. He goes straight to the kitchen and starts whipping up a mac 'n cheese from a box. Steve grabs their beers from the fridge and goes out to sit on the porch to wait for their dinner. After ten minutes, Bucky joins him, hands him his bowl and sits next to him.

Steve and his team's rescue of Natasha brought them back under the authorities' radar that different intelligence agencies and even the army asked if they can come back in. Fury didn't dismiss the idea but Steve was resolved that he is retired. Well, that was until the day someone knocked on their Brooklyn apartment and when Steve opened the door, found himself face to face with the President himself. Needless to say, after that quick and most definitely risky visit, Steve's resolve swayed a little. Out of respect for his Commander-In-Chief and appreciation for the lengths the President underwent just to change his mind, Steve managed a compromise - he agreed to change his status from retired to semi-retired.

"What about you, Sergeant Barnes?" the President asked Bucky.

Bucky didn't answer immediately. Not that he didn't know what his decision is, but he was just taken aback to be addressed by the President himself. Finally,he managed to reply, "I'm not sure yet, sir. But a semi-retirement is fine for me at the moment."

The President gave him a small acknowledging nod to which Bucky replied with a smile.

Their semi-retirement status keeps them away from combat missions but not from round table discussions and consultations with Fury, the army, other intelligence agencies and even with the President himself, especially Steve. Well, mostly Steve. For the past eight months, Steve's been called in twelve times, twice at the White House. Bucky knows it's going to take some time to adjust to this arrangement but he knows Steve looks forward to establishing and settling on a setup where he can pursue a life as Steve Rogers and still serve his country whenever he is called upon.

It is different for Bucky though. The more he tries to settle into a quiet life, the more he becomes restless. He knows it wouldn't be easy but he can't erase the thought that it didn't quite feel right for him. It didn't feel right that he gets to sit and bum around. He tried shaking off the feeling at first, not wanting Steve to see how uncomfortable he is. Not that he is not happy and grateful to have his best friend and memories back, but it slowly became clear to Bucky that they have different lives to live now.

"So, what do you think of the idea?" Bucky asks Steve before shoving a spoonful of mac 'n cheese in his mouth.

Steve finishes chewing his food before answering, "Honestly, I haven't really thought of it."

"You haven't thought of it or you won't think of it?"

Bucky opened up an idea to Steve a couple of months ago, something took Steve by surprise. They got in a bit of a debate and Steve, not wanting to hurt Bucky, asked if he can think about it for a while. Bucky agreed because Steve's opinion is dear to him.

"Look, I understand, Buck," Steve says. "You feel you don't deserve a quiet life. I used to feel the same for myself." He takes a sip of his beer, his eyes grazing the setting sun just behind the hills across their front porch.

"Yeah," Bucky replies with a heavy sigh, his eyes too, wandering far beyond the treeline. "But like I said, it's a little different for me."

Steve looks at him with a sad smile, "I guess so."

Bucky takes a deep breath and shifts in his chair to face Steve. "You felt you didn't deserve this because in your head you should already be dead, along with everyone else you knew. That's not true you know? If there's someone who deserves this win, it's you. Remember that."

Steve chuckles, "You're not the first person who told me that."

"Well, whoever that first person is, he knows what he's talking about. If you're not going to listen to me, listen to him," Bucky chuckles too as he takes another sip.

"It's a she," Steve corrects him with a proud smile. "She said the same thing. And yeah, it's not a good idea to contradict her."

A big smile slowly spreads across Bucky's face, becoming fully aware of who Steve's talking about. Bucky raises his bottle in salute, "I'll keep that in mind."

After a while Steve speaks again, "You may not feel the same for yourself now, but I hope someday you will. I just want you to be happy, buddy."

"I know," Bucky nods with a reassuring smile. "We maybe just kids from Brooklyn, but life has led us to different paths. The world sees you as a hero while they see me as a mons -,"

"Bucky," Steve tries to cut him off. But Bucky keeps smiling.

"It's alright, Steve. Denying it is not going to help me."

"We both have killed people, you know."

"You killed bad people, Steve, bad people, I can't say the same for myself," Bucky replies with a sad smile before turning his eyes back on the hills. Steve looks at Bucky and his heart breaks again for his best friend's soul. Bucky's a broken man, one who no longer holds any kind of hope for himself because he's too far gone for any form of redemption, that not even the great Captain America can save him. This is something Steve will never get over with, something he'll never be able to forgive about himself.

"You should paint that," Bucky says while pointing at something afar. Steve follows where his finger's directed at and sees that the sun's almost gone and the sky's in a beautiful blush of peach, orange and purple. Steve can't help but smile at it.

Bucky's been dealt with bad cards and Steve believes that it is his fault. Bucky may already see himself irredeemable but not to Steve. He will save Bucky a thousand times if he has to. Choosing him over the Accords was just the beginning.

"You're right," Steve remarks, but he's not referring to the sky. "The world sees you differently, but not I. You're my friend and whatever you decide on, I'm with you 'til the end of the line."

Bucky smiles again. They clink their bottles together and finish their beer at the same time.

"We should stop saying that you know, it sounds cheesy," Bucky complains with a soft laugh.

"Cheesy? I got it from you, jerk," Steve quips back with a teasing smile. Bucky shakes his heads, grinning from ear to ear. He starts clearing the beer bottles on the floor and heads for the door but Steve stops him.

"Woah, not so fast, buddy," Steve says with his a grin on his face too. "We're not done talking yet."

Bucky exhales, slumps his shoulders forward and hangs his head. He knows what Steve's referring to and it's a topic he's been trying to avoid for the past months.

"You still won't talk to me about the idea I told you, so it's just fair that I won't talk to you about this one."

"Won't or can't?" Steve challenges him, his grin wider and his eyebrows raised. "It's been eight months since that very mysterious and not to mention, intimate breakfast you two had, I'm just curious! You can't blame me! I thought you're my best friend! You used to talk to me about your dates all the time!"

"Well, for one, it wasn't a date and two, I feel like I need to ask for her permission first," Bucky answers and continues to pickup the beer bottles.

Steve only shakes his head with a very huge teasing smile then says, "Fine, I understand. You two keep your little secret. But you're gonna have to tell me at some point. Don't me make pull rank on you. On both of you."

"You're retired!"

Steve smiles coyly and says, "Semi."

"Besides she's a spy! She doesn't fall under your command."

"But she's an Avenger," Steve quips back and points himself, "and I'm kind of the leader. So technically -"

"Whatever," Bucky shakes his head with a laugh and disappears inside the house.

Author's Note: I don't know about you, but I always liked the idea of Steve Rogers putting down the shield and getting to experience life not just as Captain America but as Steve Rogers. I'd like to think that Steve defined Captain America and not the other way around. :)