Steve had slept in worse places. The comfortable down-filled pallet Bucky gave him allowed him to drift off easily. There was plenty of room for both. As the night inched toward morning, he realized a warm presence and a slight pressure on his chest. Half awake, he shifted his position only to discover Bucky sleeping right next to him, his 'good' arm draped across him. He'd moved closer in his sleep. Steve relaxed and smiled to himself. It reminded him of the old days whenever they had a grueling encounter with a bully. He was such a weakling in those days and no matter how hard he tried, he always managed to collapse when it was over. Bucky's strong protective instincts didn't end with the beating up the bad guy, they continued on throughout the rest of the day and into the night. At first, it was disconcerting but Steve got used to it. He even missed it when he didn't 'need' him in that way anymore.
He resurrected memories from childhood. Staying over at Bucky's house, sitting on his bed, reading or drawing, falling asleep together. It felt natural to touch each other in the night, sometimes going out of their way to be closer and it continued while they were older. At some point, they realized this was something they should keep to themselves but it didn't stop them. They thought it was something they would outgrow, but they never did. Being in the army was the hardest time, sometimes they would catch each other's eyes and remember.
Steve sat up in bed, disorientated. He and Bucky were always close, growing up, and he remembered similar incidents but these memories were different, changed ever so slightly. He was looking into someone else's life. His feelings for Bucky were different, more intense.
Bucky woke up, startled by his reaction. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Steve replied. He hated it when things were out of his control. There was no way to describe this.
"Nightmares," Bucky offered. "We were just in a major battle. Even Steve Rogers can still experience the aftereffects of combat."
"I guess, I suppose that's it," Steve said. He couldn't well say for him the battle was months ago, but for now was as good an excuse as any,
"Come here," Bucky said, gently pulling Steve down beside him. He wrapped his arm around him, pulling him closer, holding him a little tighter. "Just like old times. Go to sleep," he whispered.
The sensation brought back memories of comfort allowing him to drift off, waking later by the sound of Bucky getting ready to begin his work. He thought about last night, how familiar it was but the parallel memories were disconcerting. Would he get more of those? He had many questions, one big one left over from yesterday still in his head. What happened in Paris?
The team was doing their best to bluff their way through this new life, with minor mistakes here and there but these new people were like their lost counterparts as in, not stupid. They would catch on. His acceptance of Bucky's invitation wasn't just to make up for lost time, he hoped to learn as much as possible from his 'new' friend and now he had learned more than he bargained for.
He soon roused himself and followed Bucky outside. His place was enclosed by a large fence, that surrounded several outbuildings. A stone patio with a central fire circle was several yards away, toward the lake. One building appeared to be a sort of kitchen, where fish and meat were hanging, fruit and vegetables were strung. It contained a stone oven. Another held tools and yet other one contained what looked like a camping shower with beautiful woven mats on the floor. There was a long work table to the side of the house, covered in the plants he was working on yesterday. On the other side, the goats were running free inside another fenced in area. His home wasn't part of the village proper but right on the outskirts. Steve could see the neighbors were up getting ready to face the morning. Somewhere someone was singing.
Wakanda hadn't changed. Mist rose over the water, the light revealing small animals darting in and out of the undergrowth that grew at the edge of the forest. He observed Bucky with his goats for a while, amazed at how he had adapted to this world. Bucky caught his eyes and gave him a warm smile.
"Did you ever think you'd ever find me doing something like this?" He asked as he threw down feed and stood back as the goats gathered round to eat. They were small, reminding Steve of a pack of puppies. "Me, the consummate city boy?"
Steve laughed out loud. 'Did you ever go back?' the question was on the tip of his tongue but he remained silent. That might be common knowledge. "I always thought you were the type who could fit in anywhere. Anything I can do to help?"
Bucky pointed toward a small straggler trying to eat his way out of the pen by chewing on the fence. "Catch that guy for me, will you? I call him Sam."
"Does Sam know?" Steve chuckled as he approached the little animal. The goat sprang up and ran in the opposite direction. It seemed put out that Steve caught up with him, apparently in its goat way it was looking forward to the chase so it insisted on making angry goat noises. He heard laughter from somewhere behind him. Bucky's little friends had finally shown up. Steve's speed and handling of the animal amused them.
"Good morning," said one of the older boys. "How are you?"
"I am fine," Steve replied. "How are you?"
"I am fine," the boy replied. There were six children, and each one greeted Steve in English and he returned their greetings, one by one, which amused the children even more. The goat wiggled in Steve's arms trying to get away.
"Come on, Sam, stop it." Bucky took the goat from Steve, which in goat language was a signal it was time to behave. He let it go, and they laughed as it fell over on the way to join the rest of its family.
He said something to the children in Wakandan, directed his attention back to Steve. "They're learning English. That's as far as we've gotten." He pointed to Steve. "Steve," he said. The children repeated his name. Bucky pointed to himself and back to Steve, again saying something in Wakandan.
"I told them you're my friend and you'll be staying with me for a while. They might give you a nickname, like Great White Bear or something."
One of the boys approached Bucky with what looked like a bread. In return, Bucky gave him an armful of the vegetables. The rest of the children started to climb over the fence but stopped short at the sound of a woman's voice. Turning Steve found himself face to face with someone he had yet to meet. She had large almond-shaped eyes and skin the color of dark cinnamon and a beautiful smile.
"Good Morning to the White Wolf," She said, her voice was low and pleasant. "They were curious about your friend. Captain Rogers, who came to fight for Wakanda. I am Cebisa, the children's teacher," she said, extending her hand.
"Hello, Cebisa," he said, taking it. Her grip was firm. "And you may call me Steve."
"I must thank you for what you did for us. Your friend has been most generous with his time with the children, and for agreeing to help them with their English. I'm the one who has to teach the boring grammar and spelling, but, with him, it's more⦠fun. Come, children, we have much to learn today!" She smiled again, motioning for the children to come with her. Playing with Bucky and the goats was preferable to lessons, but they fell in step behind her with many a wistful look back.
Steve stood still, watching them until they disappeared into the village. "Pretty woman," He said. Bucky started to pick at the bread. He looked surprised.
"Yes, she is," Bucky said. "But stop. That's how it always started and that it never worked out. So how about we go eat this with breakfast?" He asked, holding up the bread.
"Sure. Sounds great," Steve said while mulling over what Bucky had just said. Am I not allowed to say someone is a pretty woman? He looked back toward the village.
"Remember those good old days, you trying to fix me up, me trying to fix you." Bucky laughed as they walked bringing his attention back around. "Because that's what we thought we were supposed to do and it never worked out." He waited a minute, doing nothing but standing there as he stared at the ground. Steve did some mental scrambling for an explanation for what he meant. "It's not going to be the same is it, between us I mean? Did we...mess things up?"
Between us? "Why don't we take things slow and see how it goes?" Steve offered not knowing what else to say. He had been around Natasha too long. That's exactly how what she would have said in this situation. Bucky relaxed.
"That ok with me if that's the way you want it. If that's what you want, I'm good.
"If you're good, then I'm good," He said. Steve's mind went back to Bucky's hidden displays of affection. He didn't know how to interpret it. The Bucky he knew collected pretty girls and was always trying to fix Steve up. There was no need for Steve to fix HIS Bucky up with someone. This Bucky might be more different than Steve first realized. What were they to each other here?
