It had been great to spend almost an entire day just with Bucky. It seemed like they rarely had time to do things just the two of them these days. Living as a pod meant doing things for the good of the pod instead of just taking care of each other. It was lucky that they were a small pod and patrolling the boundaries of their territory took hours instead of days.
Still, Steve was sometimes nostalgic for the days when it had been just him and Bucky, two little orphans taking on the world together.
"No, you don't," Bucky growled. "You were small and sick all the goddamn time and you almost got eaten by a shark once."
Steve blinked, his eyes refocusing on the familiar walls of the pod's shelter, his favorite sleeping spot, and Bucky's arms wrapped around him. Wow, he had to be really out of it if he was thinking out loud.
Bucky gave him a disapproving look. "When I said it was time for bed, I meant to sleep, not lie there and start reminiscing about being shark bait."
"How can I not reminisce about that? It's one of my favorite memories."
Granted, it had been scary at the time. Hydra had decided to claim the small cave they had been sheltering in as part of their territory and they had sicced their pet sharks on them. Steve had been too weak to outswim the sharks and if Bucky hadn't been there, he would have been killed for sure. But how many sirens could say their lover had punched a shark in the face for them? Just thinking about it always made Steve feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Bucky groaned. "Our life back then was shitty. We were always moving, trying to keep out of another pod's territory, trying not to get eaten by sharks, and trying to keep you fed and alive. I don't know why you love the old days so much."
"Because you were with me," Steve said. "We shared everything together."
"We still do, idiot."
"Nope," Steve said. He laced his hands behind his back and sighed his most put-upon sigh. "You won't spend even a minute helping me with the human."
Bucky bared his teeth in a snarl. "Oh, for fuck's sake, Steve. I don't want to hear another word about that guy. He's all you talk about."
Steve shrugged indifferently. "Maybe if you'd come see for yourself, I wouldn't have to spend time talking to you about him."
"I don't want to see your damn human."
"That's a shame. You're willing to punch a shark for me, but spending a few minutes watching the human is too much for you."
"Damnit, Steve," Bucky said, in that high, whiny tone that meant he was going to go along with whatever Steve had talked him into, but was prepared to complain the whole way.
Steve smiled broadly and kissed Bucky's cheek. "First thing in the morning, darling. He can make us breakfast."
"But you don't need to make food. You just catch it and eat it."
Steve patted Bucky's flank. "You'll see."
Bucky huffed and shoved Steve back down into their bed. "Go to sleep, you menace. I want to get up early and get this over with as soon as possible."
"Aw, you say the sweetest things." Steve curled into Bucky, unable to keep the grin off his face. It would be so good to finally have Bucky by his side again.
Bucky rolled his eyes and turned his back to Steve, falling asleep almost instantly. Steve stayed awake, too excited to go right to sleep. By the time Bucky nudged him awake in the morning, it felt like he had barely slept at all.
"You feeling okay?" Bucky asked, his mouth twisted with concern. "Maybe today's not a good day to see your human."
"Oh no you don't," Steve said, stifling a yawn. "If you don't go now, you'll never go. You'll just keep coming up with excuses until he's back on shore."
"I'm not making excuses. You look like shit this morning and you shouldn't be exerting yourself if you're sick."
"I'm not that sick. I haven't been that sick in a long time. But if you're really worried about me, you get to catch all the fish for the three of us."
Bucky grumbled, but reluctantly agreed to the deal, which made Steve feel bad. There was no way Bucky would agree to catch a fish for the human unless he was really concerned about Steve's health.
Oh well. He'd just have to coax Bucky into taking a nice long afternoon nap with him and then he'd be fine.
He swam leisurely after Bucky, watching as his lover caught three small fish in quick succession, snapping their spines and handing them off to Steve to hold while he went to catch another one.
Steve grinned at the armful of fish he ended up with. It was more than he needed, which meant he could make a quick stop to drop some off with the hostile human first.
"I'll be right back," Steve said. "You can go on ahead if you want."
Bucky folded his arms over his chest. "And where are you going?"
"To leave a few fish for the other guy. Don't worry, I won't make you come see him. He tends to get a little violent and I wouldn't subject you to that."
"Wow," Bucky said. "You save him and he attacks you? He deserves to be eaten."
"No, Bucky. Think about it from his perspective. He's in a strange place with scary monsters that could eat him at any moment. He's just trying to protect himself."
"Fine," Bucky said sulkily. "But if he hurts you, I'm definitely eating him."
Just to be safe, Steve made the drop-off at the angry human's cave a little faster than usual, not stopping to say hello and give him the chance to throw rocks. The man had never really hurt him, but after Bucky's threat, he didn't want to take the chance.
He hurried back to the human's cave with Bucky, worry for the human waking him up from his lethargy.
"This better be good," Bucky grumbled, swimming into the cave's opening after Steve.
When they surfaced inside the cave, the human had his back to them, muttering to himself as he tapped a stick against the far wall of the cave.
"Well, what do you know?" Bucky drawled. "Making weird noises and waving a stick around."
Steve cuffed him upside the head. "Be nice."
The human put down whatever he had been doing and came to greet them with a wide smile.
"This is Bucky," Steve said. "My best friend since hatching and the love of my life. He promised me he wouldn't eat you and he always keeps his word."
"Unfortunately," Bucky muttered.
The human pointed to the floor of the cave, where the sketch Steve had made of Thor's journey was still visible.
Steve shook his head. "Sorry, no Thor today. He's going to be gone for awhile."
The human's shoulders slumped.
"I know," Steve said. "We all miss him when he's gone."
"Come on," Bucky said. "He's not actually saying anything. You're just making shit up and pretending you're having a conversation."
The human stroked his chin for moment as he stared at the drawing, apparently deep in thought. Then he brightened. He pointed at the drawing and then at Bucky with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle.
Steve suppressed a laugh. "He's asking if you're going to go after Thor."
The human clasped his hands in front of him in a pleading gesture.
Steve snickered. "He's really anxious to get rid of you, Buck."
"And I'm anxious to get rid of him," Bucky said. He bared his teeth at the human.
The human bared his teeth right back. Although since they were flat human teeth, they weren't very threatening. This was probably why the human put all his food in the fire. It softened everything up so even his pitifully weak teeth could chew through it.
Bucky grew increasingly agitated as the human stuck out his tongue, copied all of Bucky's gestures, made obscene noises, and giggled madly.
"God damn it, this is war, human!" Bucky finally snapped.
"Easy, easy," Steve said. "He's just having fun with you. Think of him like a playful dolphin. Remember the dolphins? How they kept sneaking up on you and splashing you while you were trying to sun yourself?"
Bucky scowled. "Probably trying to drown me, the little bastards."
"They were just playing with you," Steve reminded him. "And you got off easy. They pushed Nat off her sunning rock."
"Not really helping your case here, Stevie."
"Stop getting so worked up. You and Clint have done far worse to each other over the years. Hell, even I've done you worse."
"That's different," Bucky said, crossing his arms over his chest with a scowl. "We're friends."
"Have you considered that the human wants to be friends, too?"
"Hell no. I'm not making friends with an animal."
Steve sighed. "Can you at least be civil for a few minutes? He's going to make us some fish."
"No, this is war," Bucky said stubbornly. "And I don't want any fish the human's touched. He's probably going to do something unspeakably awful to it. Even worse than wrapping it in seaweed."
"The only thing unspeakably awful is your attitude," Steve said. "Now you're going to try at least one bite before you decide you hate it. I'll eat whatever you don't want."
"If you like the stuff I already don't trust it," Bucky muttered.
Steve gave him a sharp glare and drew a fish on the cave floor. "One for each of us," he said, holding up three fingers. "the rest of the fish are yours to do with as you please."
The human cocked his head to one side and pointed at Bucky.
Steve nodded. "One for him too."
The human shrugged and went about readying everything over the fire.
"Unspeakably awful," Bucky whispered. "Told you so."
Steve elbowed him in the side and smiled pleasantly at the human. "Looking good."
After a few minutes, the human put two fish on a layer of seaweed and placed them in front of Steve and Bucky.
Steve started eating immediately, but Bucky picked at it and made disgusted faces before reluctantly putting a bite in his mouth.
"What do you think?" Steve asked.
"Eh, not as bad as I expected." Bucky's second bite was a lot bigger. "But I suppose even an idiot can occasionally blunder into a decent idea. I wonder what the other idiot human would do with a fish."
"Throw it at me, probably."
To Steve's great surprise and delight, Bucky managed to finish his whole fish. He wrapped up the remains of his own fish in a scrap of seaweed and smiled warmly at the human "Thank you, human. We both appreciate the effort. Don't we, Bucky?"
"Yeah, sure," Bucky said with his mouth full. He frowned. "You're not going to eat that? So wasteful."
"I'm saving it for later."
"For you or the sharks? It's already mush and it's going to disintegrate as soon as it hits the water."
"I suppose you're right." Steve pushed the seaweed over.
"This doesn't change anything, you know," Bucky said as he licked his fingers.
"Of course not." Steve shared a private smile with the human.
