My Soulmate, All For Me
Bucky tilted his head, staring curiously at his shadow. His shadow didn't move with him - it never did. But it was beginning to fill out, starting to take shape. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
He fished his phone out of his pocket, hitting speed dial one.
"Buck?" Steve said, sounding sleepy. Bucky winced and glanced at the time on his phone. It was just after nine in the morning in England, which was three am in the States.
"Shit, sorry Steve," he said, then caught sight of his shadow again and smiled even wider. "Shit, Stevie. It's worth waking you up. My shadow - it's got shape!"
He could almost hear the cogs turning in Steve's mind.
"Holy cow!" he exclaimed. There was a rustle of bed covers and a murmur in the background as Steve muttered something to another person, presumably Peggy, his wife.
Bucky was grinning now and it felt like the first time in a long while. "Steve, my shadow, my fucking shadow!"
"And you didn't even want to visit Rebecca, did ya?" Steve teased. His breath came quicker and Bucky could almost hear the stairs creaking as he took them two at a time. Bucky looked up at the sky - it was blue and the sun was shining. A perfect day to meet his soulmate, or so he hoped.
"Stevie, I'm freaking out!" he said. "What am I going to do?"
He looked at his shadow again. It was even more solid than before and was taking on a strangely broad shouldered outline, almost as if his soulmate was wearing shoulder pads.
Bucky would love them anyway. He knew that for sure.
"It'll be at the Expo, definitely," Steve said. "And you're going to plant one on them, that's what you're going to do."
Bucky snorted. "Hell yeah I am." He touched his metallic hand to his lips, a souvenir of a trip to Afghanistan with Uncle Sam.
"My shadow's probably fucking weird," he commented, thinking about his silhouette.
"Your shadow's perfect," Steve said firmly. "This is your soulmate, Buck. They won't reject you, not in a heartbeat."
"You can't be sure," Bucky warned him. Too many times he'd tried to have a relationship, only for his partners to be scared off by his artificial limb. Soulmates were the perfect partner, but that didn't always mean a perfect relationship.
Steve sighed. "You're right. But no use counting your chickens before they hatch, alright?"
There was a pause, like Steve was trying to hide the fact that he was yawning.
"Alright, pal," Bucky said. "Look, I've gotta go. I'll never meet my soulmate standing around gabbing with you."
"Alright, jerk," Steve said with a laugh. "And Buck, no matter what happens, remember - I'm with you 'til the end of the line."
"'Til the end of the line," Bucky repeated. "Sleep well, Steve."
"Thanks, Buck. See you soon, okay? And good luck."
Bucky snorted. "Ha - I don't need luck."
He hit the big red button and slid his phone away.
"I shoot to thrill, play to kill, yeah, pull the trigger…"
Music bellowed from the speakers and Bucky watched the streak of light approaching the crowd. It grew larger and larger until it landed, humanoid, on the platform upon the stage.
"Mr. Tony Stark, ladies and gentlemen!" a voice boomed, and the Iron Man suit unfolded from around the man himself. Bucky cheered, along with the rest of the crowd, as Stark waved at them, sliding on a pair of sunglasses he'd hidden somewhere on his person.
"That's me," Stark said dryly. "I'd say the one and only, but when I last checked there were forty-nine other Tony Starks in America alone."
Bucky snorted to himself even as Stark grinned, entertained with his own wit.
"Oh, who am I kidding? Tony Stark, the one and only Iron Man - now that sounds a bit better, doesn't it?" he called out amid cheers. "Yeah? Sounds good?"
Bucky shook his head, amused despite himself. Stark was arrogant, but he had every reason to be. As Stark launched into a speech about the latest phone he was promoting, Bucky took the time to glance around. Life sized holograms of the man were displayed in every corner of the park, so those that couldn't see the stage could still actually see him. Giant screens showed off the phone he was promoting, running various pieces of footage, some of it reportedly filmed by the phone itself in admittedly excellent quality.
It was impressive and Bucky was glad he'd decided to come to the Expo when the boys had bought him tickets as a 'retirement' from the army present. Sure, he'd not yet met his soulmate, but he had all night.
A whisper started at the front of the stage and Bucky glanced over, his attention drawn. Even Stark had noticed, a small frown marring his forehead. The whisper grew and eventually Stark stopped his speech, arms crossed.
"What's more interesting than the latest piece of Stark technology, a phone more advanced than anything the world's ever seen before?" Stark asked, glaring at the front row.
A silence fell over the crowd until a child piped up from where he sat on his dad's shoulders.
"You shadow's moving, Mr Stark," the boy said.
Stark froze for an instant. He recovered almost immediately, but Bucky noticed, although few did. Stark didn't even look at his shadow, didn't confirm the rumour. Instead, he smirked.
"Is that so?" Stark said. "About damn time. Now, as I was saying…"
He continued on with his speech, but Bucky couldn't listen. Instead, he was squinting at the ground by Stark's feet. His shadow was moving, starting to take shape. Bucky glanced at his own shadow, which was nearly completely solid.
"Fuck," he mouthed to himself.
Bucky's shadow was the damn outline of that very same Iron Man suit sitting right on centre stage.
Various people in the crowd were looking at their own shadows as well; undoubtedly Stark would be inundated with claims from hundreds of people claiming their own shadows had taken shape too.
It didn't matter. Stark was Bucky's soulmate - he was sure of it. He took a deep breath and began walking away, gaze fixed upon the exit. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he sure as hell knew that he needed to get out of the Expo.
"Am I boring you?" Stark said abruptly. Bucky froze as a spotlight fell on him. He turned to face Stark, certain that he was crimson with embarrassment.
"Sure are," Bucky said, staring resolutely back at his soulmate. It had to be.
"Really," Stark said through his mike, something like amusement in his gaze. Somehow he'd managed to hear Bucky, or someone had informed him what Bucky had said, as he was easily a hundred feet away.
"His shadow!" someone exclaimed.
Bucky bit back a million curses. It felt like every gaze in the Expo had been turned onto him.
"It's moving!"
"That outline - it's Iron Man!"
"His shadow's moving!"
"Well, Mr Stark," Bucky said. He sighed, accepting his fate. "You weren't boring me as much as there was something else on my mind."
Out of the corner of his eye he could see men in dark suits moving toward him. They'd been steadily getting closer from the moment Stark's shadow had started taking shape. There was someone out there with a sharp eye that had been reviewing footage of the Expo and they'd spotted him straight away. Hopefully they were Stark's guys, because a soldier Bucky might be, but taking on five armed men at the same time was not going to end well for him.
"Is that so?" Stark said. He tilted his head and Bucky was willing to bet anything that he was wearing an earpiece. Whoever had spotted Bucky was also feeding him information.
Bucky was okay with that. If Stark really was his soulmate, then Bucky wanted him to have all the advantages he could get.
"Well, folks, it looks like I may have to cut this presentation short," Stark said. There were a few cries of disappointment, but people were beginning to surge toward Bucky, curious to take a look at the man with the Iron Man shadow.
"Come with me," said one of the dark suited men. He had a frown upon his face that looked like it lived there and he jerked his head toward the crowd. "They're seconds from becoming a mob. No one's sensible when it comes to Tony Stark."
Bucky snorted. "Don't have to tell me that," he said. "Lead on."
Despite Stark cancelling his talk, it took nearly an hour for them to meet face to face. Bucky was hustled away by the security guard with the perpetual frown upon his face and into what was likely some kind of exclusive VIP area. Pepper Potts was there, tapping at her phone. She glanced at him once, tapped away for a couple of minutes more, then held up the phone to talk a picture of him… or something.
When that was done, she walked over, extending a hand.
"Hello, Mr. Barnes. A pleasure to meet you," she said with a smile.
"And you, Ms. Potts," Bucky said. "Call me Bucky. Everyone does."
Potts nodded. "Apologies for the wait - I was just confirming your shadows." A small smile crossed her lips. "You're definitely a match. Congratulations."
Bucky smiled awkwardly. "Thanks? I guess?"
"Hmm," Potts said, her gaze sharp. Her phone buzzed and she glanced down at it. "Oh, gosh, not again." She marched away, the security guard shadowing her footsteps.
"Tony!" she snapped into the phone. She walked through a door and it shut behind her, leaving Bucky alone in the now-silent room.
Bucky spent the rest of the time he was waiting playing snake on his phone. It was an old Nokia - he'd been meaning to upgrade, but he'd not found the time since his discharge from the Army. Rebecca had laughed when she'd seen it, and even harder when he'd said that he'd been given tickets to the Stark Expo. 'They might not let you in, with a phone like that' she'd said. This proved her wrong, that was for sure.
The door burst open, handle smashing into the wall. Bucky shoved his phone away and automatically stood to attention. He untucked his arms from behind his back. They hung awkwardly by his side.
"Well, well," Stark said. He was still wearing the sunglasses.
"Mr. Stark," Bucky said. He stopped. They both stood there, looking at each other. Bucky clenched his hands into fists and released them, conscious of his metal arm.
Stark seemed to deflate before him. He ran his fingers through his hair and whipped the glasses off his face, tucking them into the breast pocket of his suit.
"Shit," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Yeah," Bucky agreed.
When Stark looked up, he looked tired. "Not how I expected my trip to London to go."
"Neither," Bucky said. He shifted from foot to foot. "Look, Stark - if you're not interested - just say. I'm not going to be a dick about this, okay?"
A wry smile crossed Stark's lips. "That good to hear, at least."
He shook his head and Bucky tensed.
"I am interested. I am. But, it's complicated. You know who I am? Well, soon everyone will know who you are too. You can't escape that. Even if we never see each other again, you'll still be 'Tony Stark's Soulmate'. Maybe the media attention will die down in five, ten years. Maybe not. There'll always be someone willing to shove a camera in your face and get your take on my latest so called fling."
Bucky grimaced. The attention of everyone in the Expo had been bad enough. The attention of everyone in the world would be suffocating.
"It's worth it," Bucky said, interrupting Stark as he took a breath. Stark eyed him, remaining silent. "If you want to, I want to, you know, try." Bucky gestured to himself. "This is me - army vet missing an arm and a brain to mouth filter. I own a bar in New York and that's about it."
Stark stepped forward. His gaze flickered over Bucky's left shoulder, as if he'd not noticed the metal limb before then. That was nice.
"I like all of you," Stark said.
"Bet you say that to all the boys with metal limbs."
Stark snorted, eyes twinkling. "Only those with chiselled jaws and blue eyes."
They were close now, close enough to touch, so Bucky did, reaching forward with his flesh arm. He cupped Stark's cheek with his hand. His skin was soft, the bristles of his goatee ticklish.
"Hi," Bucky said.
Stark smiled. "Hi there, soulmate."
Soulmates. Bucky thought he rather liked the sound of that.
He kissed Stark. His lips were soft and he tasted like coffee. When they pulled back Bucky was certain there'd be a dazed look in his eyes to match the soppy expression Stark was wearing.
"Damn," Bucky said. He whistled under his breath.
"Damn," Stark echoed. He grinned, a fierce look in his eyes. "You're mine. My soulmate, all for me."
"Anyone ever tell you you're a little bit greedy?" Bucky teased.
"All the time."
"I like that," Bucky said. He surged forward, kissing Stark again. He wanted to belong to Tony Stark, just like how he knew Tony Stark belonged to him.
The way he figured, they had the rest of their lives to sort that out.
Word Count: 2253
Romance Awareness Day 1 - the outline of your shadow is your soulmate
Auction - soulmate!AU [Word Count 2253 = 225 coins]