Now that Bucky knew how the battle had gone wrong, he was eager to get back into the fighting.

When T'Challa and his guards started making their way to his hut, he met them on the way. "Alright, give me the arm."

T'Challa looked slightly taken aback. "Sergeant Barnes, I-"

"Hurry it up," Bucky said impatiently. "The fight's coming and I want to be in good shape when Stevie gets here."

T'Challa and his guard exchanged a glance, but they led him to Shuri and from there, Bucky quickly rushed to the landing strip to meet up with Steve and the rest of the team.

Steve beamed when he saw him. "Buck. How've you been?"

"Good," Bucky said. His expression shifted to Wanda. "I need to talk to her for a moment."

"Why? Did something happen?"

"You could say that." He walked closer to her. "You can read minds, right? I don't like people messing around in my head, but..."

Steve nodded. "Go ahead, Wanda."

Wanda moved her hands over his face, her fingertips lighting up with red light.

"Oh," she gasped. "I did not know."

"Yeah, well, now you do. So it's really important that you stay with Vision the whole time. Don't leave Shuri's lab, no matter what. The second you leave that spot, it's all over."

She nodded. "I will stay with him then, until the stone is destroyed."

Bucky felt reasonably confident. Wanda had deep feelings for Vision. She didn't want him to die. So he was pretty sure knowing what he did, that she would stay put. And he could count on her to keep Vision protected while the rest of them fought off the lizard army.

As long as they kept the barrier closed, the lizards would be thinned out and they would just all keep fighting until Shuri let them know that the stone was removed and destroyed.

"Brother!" Shuri shouted over the comms. "They've broken in. We are being overrun."

"Hang on," T'Challa said. "We are on our way to you right now."

There was an excruciating scream and then the comm line went dead.

Bucky squeezed his eyes shut. Her death was on him. He turned his gun on himself.

The next day, he resolved that as long as Wanda remained in Shuri's lab with Vision, he would let the rest of the battle play out as it had. Fighting the swarms of lizards hadn't been a pleasant experience, but if they kept the creatures occupied, they would keep them away from Shuri.

Without Wanda's assistance with the wheels, the battle was going to be a lot rougher. Sam and Rhodey did what they could, focusing all their firepower on the wheels and the rest of them simply ran and dodged out of the way

But then Thanos appeared in the middle of the battle. With waves of his hand, he scattered the team right and left and kept walking all the way into the capitol without opposition.

Bucky sighed as his hand began to turn into dust.

Maybe he was going about it all wrong. Wanda was extremely powerful. Maybe the most powerful member of their team. They could use her on the battlefield. If she used her considerable power to wipe out most of the lizards, maybe that would buy them enough time until Thanos' appearance.

So Bucky stayed with Vision while Wanda entered the battlefield. From the window, he could see Wanda creating swathes of destruction through the enemy ranks. It had been a good tactical decision.

And Shuri seemed to be making good progress removing the stone.

"He's here!" Bruce shouted suddenly. "It's Thanos."

"We're out of time," Bucky groaned.

Vision bowed his head. "Do what needs to be done."

Bucky called Wanda back to the lab to give her a chance to say a last teary goodbye to Vision and he gently removed the stone from Vision's head so she wouldn't have to do it. And once it was done, he held out the stone for her to destroy.

"That's it," he said. "Thanos can't get his hands on it now.

"We have incoming," Shuri said urgently.

The walls of the lab split aside like they were made of tissue paper and Thanos stepped inside.

"It's gone," Bucky said fiercely. "The stone is destroyed."

"I think you'll find that it isn't," Thanos said. He tilted his wrist, the gauntlet lit up with green light and the fragments of the stone knit back together.

Son of a bitch. This was going to be a lot harder than Bucky had anticipated.

If they couldn't destroy it, there was no way they could prevent Thanos from taking the stone. Whether or not Shuri could remove it was a moot point now.

Their only chance was killing Thanos before he got his hands on the stone. And Bucky had already seen firsthand just how well those attempts had gone.

But he wasn't giving up.

Bucky wasn't the tactician Steve was, but he had a few plans. He knew where Thanos would make his appearance and if the team coordinated their efforts, maybe they would be able to defeat him.

But it seemed like no matter what they did, they just weren't strong enough. Bucky had even

grabbed Thor when he landed and steered him straight over to where Thanos would be. And after Thor had made the initial strike against him, the rest of the team swarmed him. But it was no use. The battle always ended with his body slowly dissolving into dust.

And Bucky was getting tired of fighting the same guy over and over again. He needed a break.

Bucky didn't even wait for Steve to get off the jet before he rushed forward.

Steve's eyes lit up. "Buck."

Bucky allowed himself to be pulled into a crushing embrace and then schooled his face into a serious expression. "I've got to show you something.

Steve's smile faded. "Of course, Buck. Let me just-"

"Shuri can get the stone out of Vision's head," Bucky said quickly. He tugged at Steve's hand. "Come on. It's important."

"Captain Rogers, this is not the time," T'Challa said. "War is almost upon us."

"We'll be right back," Steve assured him. "Get Vision to Shuri and start working on that stone. We'll join you when we can."

Bucky raced towards his hut, dragging Steve along behind him. It was sweet that his Stevie had so much trust in him, but eventually he was going to get suspicious and demand to know what was going on.

Before Steve could even open his mouth to question what they were doing in Bucky's hut, Bucky tackled him, pushing him down into the soft furs that made up his bedding and straddling his waist.

"What's gotten into you?" Steve demanded. "I thought you were going to show me something important."

"I am," Bucky said with a cheeky grin. He reached down to unzip his pants. "My dick."

"James Buchanan Barnes," Steve said sternly. "We are not sneaking off in the middle of battle to have sex."

"Yes, we are," Bucky hissed. "Do you remember the last time we had sex?"

"The day before you went back in cryo."

"Yeah, and that was a year ago."

"Six months," Steve said with a fond eye roll. "Don't be so dramatic, Buck."

"A year," Bucky repeated.

Steve's face fell. "Has it been that many for you?"

Bucky nodded.

"Jesus, Buck. I'm so sorry."

Bucky patted Steve's cheek. "We'll figure something out. But in the meantime, I think I deserve a little break." He started stripping Steve out of his uniform. "I'm pretty sure you could use a break, too."

Steve said nothing as Bucky finished undressing the two of them, his body tense and his eyes unfocused.

Bucky licked up Steve's abs. "Relax, baby. I'm going to take good care of you."

There was the sound of gunshots in the distance, Wanda's agonized scream.

Steve flinched. "Buck, I really think we should-"

"Later," Bucky murmured. He pressed a kiss to Steve's jaw. "You know I'm just going to die in a couple minutes anyway and it'll reset. None of our friends will actually die."

"You don't know that, Buck. What if we've gone too far from the battle and you get spared?"

"It's not going to matter where I am. Thanos is going after the whole universe, remember? We tried to fuck off to France a couple cycles ago. I crumbled into dust halfway into the flight. So did our pilot." He cupped Steve's face in his hands. "It doesn't matter where we go. I'm always going to die, along with half the people in the universe."

"Then we really need to get back out there and fight."

"We will," Bucky said. "On the next round. Just let me have a break, baby. Just one day to recover from all the shit I've been through already." He gave Steve his best puppy dog eyes.

Steve was silent for a long minute. "Alright," he said finally.

Bucky groaned as Steve rolled his hips upwards. "That's it, Stevie. You feel so good. Can't wait to get you inside me. Want you to fuck my brains out. Want you to fuck this stupid battle out of my head."

Steve rushed through the prep work, fumbling with the container of lube.

Bucky grinned. Dirty talk had always been Steve's undoing.

Steve pushed into him in one smooth stroke and Bucky keened.

God, he had missed this. The wonderful feeling of fullness, the burning stretch, the pain and pleasure mingling into one.

Steve started out slowly, but he quickly picked up the pace.

Bucky groaned and tipped his head back. He felt so good. The rest of the world was fading away and it was just him and Steve slotting their bodies together. He felt like he was floating.

Abruptly, Steve's thrusts halted.

Bucky rolled his hips impatiently. "C'mon, Stevie. Why'd you stop? We were just getting to the good part."

Steve's eyes were wide with terror. "Bucky, your arm."

Bucky glanced down at the dust cascading from his shoulder blade. Fuck, he thought he'd have more time.

He woke up fully clothed, erection gone as if it had never been. But the sexual frustration still crackled under his skin like electricity. In no time at all, he was hardening again.

"Goddamnit," Bucky growled as he took himself in hand.

Next time, he was jumping Steve's ass the second he walked off that jet.