I Like The Way You Think
Steve/Bucky/Sif
Stuckif (?)
Theme song:
Spin Doctors – Two Princes
I completely rewrote this Short after building the manip of the three characters to put up on Ao3. I couldn't help myself. The story virtually wrote itself. Giving myself 1500 words to get it written, since there's three of them…
"You fight well, Captain!" the fierce warrior-maiden shouted, decapitating the head of the beast which had just been about to try and bite Steve's head off, "if a little too defensively!"
"She's not wrong there, punk," Bucky yelled, giving him a hand up and offering one of his multitude of guns.
Steve sighed and took it. Bucky was right, as usual. Sometimes getting in close was a seriously bad idea. Especially since one of the stupid monster-beasts Loki had summoned up had swallowed his damn shield. He was going to have to figure out how to get it back somehow, and preferably not by making like Jonah.
"She's fuckin' awesome," Bucky shouted, firing off a couple of shots. "Look at that chick go!"
"That's the Lady Sif, not a chick," Steve shouted back, shooting one of the flying beasties out of the sky and agilely leaping away from the falling corpse. "Thor'll smash your head in if you don't speak of her with respect, so watch your mouth!"
"She'd probably do it herself, look at her, Steve!"
Unwillingly, Steve glanced across. Sif had turned up to summon Thor and the other Avengers to assist in the fight, and stayed to help. And for a girl with a sword, she was one helluva fighter, he had to admit. He hadn't seen a dame kick ass like that since – well, since never, he silently admitted to himself. Even Natasha wasn't that badass, not that he would dare say that to her face. Sif came belting back towards them now, sword dripping blood, and looked up at both of them with a wide, cheerful grin.
"You are both uninjured? Good! Come with me, I think there may be more of the monsters this way."
Almost casually, as they walked past one of the fallen monsters, Sif paused and swiped her sword along its belly. Steve's shield spilled out, along with a pile of reeking monster guts. "You might want that, Captain."
"I like her, she's got style," Bucky said admiringly. Sif flashed him another one of those toothy grins.
"You don't do so badly yourself, warrior."
"Call me Bucky."
The smile turned more genuine, and she looked at him appreciatively, running her eyes boldly up and down his body. "I shall do that, and you may call me Sif."
"Buck, what are you doing?" Steve hissed, scandalised, shaking the monster guts off his shield with a grimace. "Not that she's not stunning, but…"
"Come on, Stevie, you can't tell me that you wouldn't love to put your hands all over that," Bucky muttered back as they followed Sif through the thick undergrowth. "I love you an' all, but…"
Steve didn't reply, because Bucky was right. They both liked women too. It was an unspoken desire between the two of them to find a woman who could somehow accept them both, even though she couldn't be their soulmate. If Steve didn't know better he'd say that the pair of them were missing a third, that they should be part of a triad. Both of them had their soulmate words written in a circle – and to both of them it felt as though the centre was an empty space that needed to be filled.
Sif was beautiful, Steve acknowledged silently, knowing that Bucky hadn't missed the way he'd been eyeing the warrior-maid. Tall, with dark wavy hair tumbling down her back, she looked as though she was born to wear armour, born to wield that sword. She might even be physically strong enough to handle both him and Buck, being Asgardian.
Steve shook his head, trying to clear it of the suddenly filthy fantasies filling it, glared at Bucky. "Stop it. It's not going to happen."
"What's not going to happen?" Sif could hear them both clearly, although they probably thought they were talking too quietly for her to hear. They both stared at her wide-eyed, stopping in their tracks. She turned fully to face them, cocking her head.
Something wasn't right here. They were soulmates, but… Sif concentrated, and her vision slid sideways in a way she'd never quite been able to define…
She could see the soulbond shimmering between them when she looked at them this way, a beautiful thing, woven of golden light – and with far too many missing threads. "What is wrong with it?" she asked, puzzled.
"What's wrong with what?" Steve stared at her. She seemed to be staring at the space between him and Bucky.
"It's beautiful, but it's not complete." Sif felt strangely drawn to the damaged golden web. She walked towards it, sheathing her sword, holding her hands out. "Where is your third?"
"We don't have a third," Bucky said, astonished. "What – can you see our soulbond?"
"So many parts missing, so much strain," Sif whispered, her silvery eyes glowing slightly. It was the only tiny bit of magic she had, this gift of Seeing soulbonds when she chose to. Her hands came up, plucked at one shimmering thread – and both Bucky and Steve cried out. Suddenly, the soulbond was filling in, a thick net of silver and golden threads, spinning in a vortex around all three of them. Runes began to trace themselves in over the backs of Sif's uplifted hands, and both Steve and Bucky shouted with pain as the hollow space in the circle of their soulmark words filled in.
All three of them were on their knees when it stopped, Sif breathing raggedly as the Sight left her. She lifted her head and found two pairs of incredulous blue eyes staring at her.
"You're our third," Bucky found his voice first.
"So it would seem," Sif pushed herself to her feet, did not protest when they both reached for her. She'd been thinking since she first laid eyes on them how magnificent they were, both large men, powerful and dangerous warriors, had even considered inviting them to her bed for a night until she realised they were soulmated to each other and regretfully dismissed the idea. Now – well, she could have far more than one night.
"You're beautiful," that was Steve, looking at her shyly, taking one of her hands in his and examining the runes now etched across the back of it.
"Ours," that was Bucky, more forward, one hand settling in the small of her back as he moved closer, the other lifting a lock of her dark hair between his fingers and stroking it gently.
Sif smiled. The Fates had favoured her indeed. A roar broke her happy contemplation of the pleasures she would surely find in her soulmates' arms, though, and she frowned.
"This battle is not over yet, my consorts. There are more of these foul beasts yet to dispatch."
"Yes," Steve agreed, letting go of her hand reluctantly. "We'd better get that dealt with. What's your plan, Sif?"
"Kill them all," Sif said, "then we go and have victorious celebratory sex!" She smiled, showing her teeth again, and drew her sword.
"I like the way you think," Bucky said admiringly.
"Oh God help me," Steve sighed dismally, realised they were both looking at him disappointedly, and backpedalled hastily. "Not about the, uh, sex part. That sounds good. That sounds – really good."
"Then let's get the killing out of the way!" Sif reached up, hooked a hand around Steve's neck and kissed him quickly. "A promise for later, Captain!"
"She's even worse than you," Steve said to Bucky after he got his breath back.
Bucky only grinned at him before bolting after Sif yelling; "Hey, don't I get a kiss too?"
1263 words.
I'm sure you'll get more than just a kiss, Bucky.
By request, I've now completed an index to this fic. You can find it back in Chapter 1, with the introduction. It lists the pairings by chapter number. I understand the chapter titles don't show up if reading on a phone so hopefully this will make your favourites easier to find. I've included sequels, written and unwritten – and you'll see that there's still plenty of pairings that could do with sequels, so if you'd like to write one, get in touch…
