I'll Follow You Home
By
Ghostlywhitedirewolf
I have two multi-chapter fics, three prompts and a weeks worth of lesson plans for uni that I should be working on right now, instead I'm writing this. Priorities Beth! Also, I literally did not know where the hell this was going, I just started writing and then picked an end point but this is possibly the only aimless thing I've ever written. I had no plan, no clue of what direction I wanted to take it and I feel like you can really tell. I just wanted to write Steve and Bucky with a puppy and that's all really.
Come say hi on my tumblr: ghostlywhitedirewolf
"There's something following us." Bucky whispered, mouth suddenly close to Steve's ear as he feigned kissing the other mans neck in an attempt to act naturally.
"What do you mean? HYDRA?" Steve replied, turning his head to brush his mouth against Bucky's, sneaking a glance over his shoulder when the motion allowed him to.
"Not a person. Something. I don't know without doing a sweep." Bucky grimaced, annoyance at his lack of knowledge clear in his face.
"We're not far from the house, Buck. We can't lead them back there. You turn right here and double back, I'll keep walking until the end of the street and if whatever it is is still following us, I'll do a lap of the block again." Steve nodded at Bucky, who didn't look keen, but eventually angled his chin in agreement.
"I'll meet you at the corner store where Maisy works." Bucky told him, moving to walk away, face angled towards Steve, but eyes analysing everything around them.
Steve nodded again and continued to walk along the empty street. They'd caught a late movie for the first time since Bucky's return. It had been the first time Bucky had managed to sit through a movie without being triggered by something and Steve was disappointed that the night could possibly be derailed, especially when Bucky's guard had finally started to lower.
Steve had known that it would always be there, but it had been significantly more relaxed lately. They'd even managed to sit through The Hunger Games the previous week, a film that had once sent Bucky flying into a fit of panic.
Within a second, Bucky had disappeared, literally and figuratively. Steve knew that it should concern him, the speed in which the other man was able to switch from Bucky to the Winter Soldier. He isn't stupid enough to believe that the soldier is gone, he's just dormant, overpowered by the innate features that are just Bucky, but alert enough to return at a moments notice if necessary. Steve, even with his superior senses, isn't able to locate him, though he knows that Bucky will be above them, the sniper in the other man preferring a vantage point where he has the ability to survey everything with ease.
Steve eyed everything in front of him for signs of movement, the red lasers of a sniper, the flash of metal from a gun, but he sees nothing. It was only thirty seconds or so before Steve heard the deliberately loud noise of someone's feet hitting the ground.
"Steve, it's okay," Bucky called, "come back here."
Steve turned around, finding Bucky immediately in the dark street despite the other man's back being to him, his posture hunched as though he is struggling to hold onto something that is out of the view of Steve.
"Bucky," Steve asked, questioningly, "what do you have there?"
Bucky turned to face him without answering and the confusion on his face captured Steve's attention before he noticed the wriggling ball of tangled limbs in the ex-assassin's arms.
"A puppy." Bucky seemed perplexed, staring blankly at the dog who was squirming frantically, clearly trying to escape.
"Is that what's been following us?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, must have been the leftover beef jerky in your pockets. Poor thing looks like it hasn't been fed in a while." Bucky commented, finally able to calm the dog, holding it protectively against his chest whilst Steve leaned in to look at it.
It was a thin little thing, probably once white, but now its fur was a dirty yellow and brown colour, its snout long and thin with black ears and a lone black foot. It looked up at Steve with big brown eyes, half afraid, half inquisitive and the Cap sighed.
"What the hell are we going to do with it now? Does it have a collar on?" he asked Bucky, who shook his head.
"Nothing. Might have a chip though? Doesn't look much like someone's been looking out for it much," Bucky pointed out, craning his head to look at the puppy.
Steve looked up at Bucky, "well, there's not much we can do until the morning. We can get it cleaned up and then take it to a vet tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, but can we do the clean up when we get home? It smells," Bucky asked, wrinkling his nose. "I don't think I can live with that smell until tomorrow morning."
Steve laughed, "definitely."
"How are we supposed to do this?" Bucky asked, peering down at the puppy he had placed in the bath.
"Warm water, get scrubbing." Steve told him, rolling up his sleeves and turning on the faucet, pulling out a plastic jug that he had found in the kitchen.
The puppy whined in shock as the first bit of water was poured gently onto its back.
"Did you see what it was? Like, boy or girl," Steve asked, "I feel bad calling it, it."
Bucky nodded, "it's a girl."
"Hey girlie," Steve soothed, rubbing his hand over her fur and watching as the once clear water runs off the quivering puppy's back brown. "It's alright. We won't hurt you, just need you not to smell like you do right now."
Bucky smiled at Steve from where he was holding the puppy still whilst Steve washed her. "She's filthy."
"So were you when you finally came back." Steve joked, nudging Bucky's flesh hand.
"I can't believe you let me in the house if I smelt like she does." One side of Bucky's lip quirked and he looked up at Steve through his eyelashes.
"Well, it was a close cut thing. " Steve said, pretending to look thoughtful and Bucky laughed freely.
"She's all limbs and head." Bucky looked down at the puppy's long snout. "What breed do you think she is?"
"Not sure, she's too hairy to be a greyhound. Maybe a lurcher or some kind of sighthound?" Steve replied with a frown, running his hands over the dog.
Bucky shrugged nonchalantly. "Will the vet know?"
"If they don't, I bet JARVIS would be able to find out." Steve pulled out some shampoo, squeezing some into the jug before mixing it with water. "Right girlie, I don't think human shampoo is too good for you, but it's as good as we've got right now, so diluted will have to do."
He handed the jug to Bucky and took hold of the puppy as Bucky tipped the jug over her back, watching as the ex-assassin massaged the shampoo into her fur.
"It's strange." Bucky muttered.
"What is?" Steve questioned, glancing up at the brunet.
"Gentle. Being gentle. It still surprises me that I can be.. I can be..not a killer."
Steve shot him a small smile in reply as Bucky started to rinse off the shampoo, revealing white fur rather than the mangy yellow that she had been.
"Look at you, all clean." Steve commented as the puppy continued to squirm.
"Alright leggy, out you come." Bucky said, checking that all the shampoo had been rinsed off the pup before lifting her onto a dry towel.
"What? What did you just call her?" Steve raised an eyebrow.
"Leggy. Well, she is. She's all legs!" Bucky replied incredulously, as though he couldn't believe that Steve couldn't see his point.
The blond man nodded his agreement.
"She definitely is."
It only took them a few minutes to dry the puppy, but half an hour to find something in their house that she could eat. Bucky rummaged through the cupboards, pulling out random tins of food until he finally made a noise of success and held up a tin of tuna.
"She can eat that right?" he asked.
"I think so, Clint feeds his dog tuna." Steve gave a nod of confirmation as Bucky pulled himself to his feet, opening the lid of the tin with his flesh hand before flipping it, dumping the contents onto a plate that they had set out.
The puppy made a small yipping noise, winding her way through both their legs before jumping up at the cupboard doors.
"You hungry, darlin'?" Bucky asked, leaning down to place the food on the floor for her and watching with a slight smile as she attacked the food.
"Poor thing, I bet she hasn't seen real food in a while." Steve looked at the puppy sadly, before laughing when she had to widen her stance in order to reach the plate.
"See, I told you. Leggy. She needs some body to go with those legs." Bucky nudged Steve with his shoulder before pulling out his phone and taking a quick picture.
"Who are you sending that to?" Steve asked, watching Bucky tap at his phone.
"Clint, to see if he knows what breed she is."
"I don't think professional dog identifier is on Clint's list of abilities." Steve commented dryly.
"Worth a shot," Bucky shrugged.
They watched the puppy eat for another minute, both jumping slightly when Bucky's phone chimed.
"Borzoi." He read out. "Clint thinks she's a Borzoi. He says one of the women at the dog behaviour class he goes to breeds them."
"That's a Russian breed, isn't it?" Steve asked, watching as Bucky typed the breed into google.
"Yup," Bucky agreed, "now you have two Russian cast-offs living in your house."
Steve reached out for Bucky's hand, squeezing it, sensing the sadness behind the joke.
"I like my Russian cast-offs just fine."
Bucky laughed, the noise harsher than it should have been as he turned his head to capture Steve's lips.
After the puppy was finished eating, Steve pulled out his laptop and settled onto the couch, searching for local Humane Societies that they could take her to, before doing a quick search on a missing dogs website to see if anyone had reported the puppy missing.
Unsurprisingly, Steve found nothing.
He looked up at Bucky to tell him, finding the other man stretched across the opposite couch, his hands crossed over his chest, the puppy resting in the crook of his arm, both of them asleep.
I'm screwed, Steve thought.
"Well, she's around 16 weeks old," the vet stated as he looked over the puppy. "To be totally honest, lost in the middle of New York, I'm surprised she's survived. She's a little underweight, but nothing a healthy diet won't fix, she's definitely not starving and she hasn't been chipped. I can make a quick call to animal control to see if she's been reported to them as missing, she hasn't been reported to us, but looking at her, I'd say probably not. I can keep her here and put her up for adoption once she's had her injections."
"No.." Steve heard Bucky's shocked reply.
"Bucky?" Steve questioned, turning towards the other man.
"She..I don't want her to go to the pound." Bucky admitted, running the fingers of his flesh hand through the fur of the puppy. "Please?"
He looked up at Steve with a hopeful expression and the blond felt his chest constrict. "Buck, this is a big commitment."
"You can have a moment to talk about it, if you want. I'll go and call animal control to see if she's been reported as missing, if she has then the decision is out of your hands." The vet, Dr Johnson, stated as he moved towards the door.
"Thank you." Steve replied, gratefully, looking back at Bucky's pleading expression once the vet had left the room.
"I know it is," Bucky said, "but the doc says I should start to put down roots, make my own life now."
"Are you sure, Buck?" Steve asked again, feeling the need to check. "Are you sure that this is what you want. All of this, not just the puppy."
Bucky narrowed his eyes, a hint of vulnerability managing to creep into his expression as he pulled the puppy against his chest almost defensively.
"Do you not want this? Do you not want me to stay?"
"No..hell no Buck! Of course I do. I just..you've been here since you came back. I'm worried that you might feel as though you have to stay here and I would never want that." Steve fumbled for a moment, trying to find the right words.
"I do. I want this, I want you, I want to have a life with you, God, how could you even think I might want something, someone, else. I only want you." Bucky looked at Steve, eyes intense as he moved forward. "I want you as long as you'll have me. As fucked up and broken as I am."
Steve smiled. "You're not fucked up and broken. You're perfect Bucky, you're all I'll ever want. Of course I want you to stay. Of course the puppy can stay."
Bucky beamed at him, closing the distance to press a swift kiss to Steve's lips, careful not to squash the puppy as he did so.
"Til the end of the line, right." Steve told him and Bucky nodded.
"Til the end of the line, punk."
They both turned around as the vet returned.
"Well, she hasn't been reported missing so far." He confirmed.
"We've decided that she can stay with us." Steve said as the vet paused.
"Okay, well, there's a seven day period where she could still be claimed, if not, she's all yours. I can get her signed up if you'd like and then give her all her injections whilst you're here now." Dr Johnson asked.
"That sounds great." Bucky smiled.
"So what are we going to call her?" Bucky asked as he clipped the red collar onto the puppy, ignoring the fact that she was chewing on the end of his shoelace.
"I thought you'd already named her." Steve said with a wink, bumping Bucky's shoulder with his own and stroking the puppy's back gently.
"What?" Bucky replied, confusion clear on his face.
"Leggy."
"That's just a fact," Bucky narrowed his eyebrows.
"But she is kinda leggy. I think it suits her."
The crooked smile that Steve loved reappeared as Bucky pulled the dog into his lap, examining her for a moment, happiness radiating from him.
"Leggy she is then."
One week, three chewed up shoes, and a missing TV remote later, they returned to the Humane Society shelter and signed for her.
Steve didn't think he'd ever seen Bucky smile as widely.
"It feels nice." The ex-assassin commented as the walked back to the car, Leggy tugging at her lead as she struggled to take in everything at once.
"Having a dog?" Steve asked.
"No, well, yes. I mean this." Bucky waved his metal arm slightly. "Permanence. I never thought I'd have it. Especially after everything…"
He trailed off, but Steve understood anyway. "I'm glad you like it. I love it too. I thought you were dead, Buck. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. This, this is perfect."
"Thank you, for everything. For helping me, giving me a home when I was a stray, for loving me. Just everything, Stevie." Bucky pressed the blond man against the car.
"You don't have to thank me. It's my pleasure." Steve smiled, pulling Bucky's face forward and kissing him. "I love you."
"I love you too, Steve." Bucky mumbled against Steve's lips, breaking the kiss when he felt Leggy jump up against his calf. "Yes, we love you too Leggy."
"Let's go home." Steve smiled and Bucky nodded.
"I like the sound of that."
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