Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Challenges listed at the bottom.

Word Count - 823

Fic Detail - TonyBucky / Soulmate!au

Not Good With Words

Bucky held the pen tightly in his hand. He could feel the plastic giving way beneath his metal fingers and loosened his grip. Three times he moved to write across his right arm, and three times, he stopped himself at the last moment.

He shouldn't be doing this. His soulmate, whoever they were, had probably spent years resenting his absence, and that was if they were even still alive. For all Bucky knew, his soulmate could have passed anytime in they years he'd spent in cryo or as a murder-bot.

And if they hadn't… if they were still out there somewhere, with no contact from Bucky at all, surely they were angry at him?

Maybe it would be better to just… not.

But then… if they were still out there, they deserved an explanation, even if they wanted nothing to do with him.

Taking a deep breath, Bucky put the pen on his arm and wrote, Anyone there?

The adrenaline slowly left his body as he waited, his pen in hand, for a reply that never came.

…

"What are you up to, Tasty-Freeze?" Tony asked as he strolled into the common room.

Bucky shrugged, gesturing at the tv lazily. "Watching, uh, whatever this is."

Tony looked at the screen and frowned. "Who introduced to the Great British Bake Off?"

"Um. Is that what it is?"

Snorting, Tony nodded. "Hmm. It's good tv for binging but it always makes me starving. Why the long face, Snowflake? You look like someone just kicked your puppy."

"I don't have a puppy."

"Uh huh. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Try again?" Tony asked, sitting down beside him.

Bucky sighed. "I uh, I guess I wrote to my soulmate last night and they… didn't reply. I don't know if that means they're… gone, or just… hate me."

Tony blinked. "You wrote to them… last night?"

Bucky nodded.

"What did you write?" his arm twitching.

"I just asked if anyone was there," Bucky admitted. "I'm not so good with words and—"

He froze when Tony pulled his sleeve up to reveal the words Anyone there? on his arm. Bucky blinked and opened his mouth to talk, but Tony was already on his feet, stuttering an apology as he practically fled the room.

Bucy watched him go, his heart breaking with every step Tony took.

…

"You should go and talk to him," Steve said, when Bucky was done explaining what had happened. "Tony and emotions is an… unsteady mixture, and he's always been sensitive about the fact that he didn't have a soulmate. The media gave him hell for it for so many years."

Bucky shook his head. "He doesn't want to see me, Stevie. He ran away from me."

"So chase him," Stevie prompted. "He's… he's worth it, Buck. I can see the two of you together; I think you'd be good for each other."

"Yeah?"

"It's worth a try, right? He's already run away, Buck, it can't get worse, can it?"

"You had to jinx it, didn't you, Punk?"

Steve rolled his eyes. "Get on with ya, Jerk."

…

When Bucky pressed gently on the door to the lab, he was surprised that it opened under his touch. He'd been almost certain that Tony would lock him out the instant he'd arrived at the lab himself.

That he hadn't… maybe there was hope after all.

"Forgive me," Bucky asked, holding his hand out to Tony.

Tony shook his head, and for a moment, Bucky's heart sank, but Tony took his hand between both of his own. "I don't need too. This wasn't your fault, Snowflake. I'm sorry I run, I just… got overwhelmed, I guess. I've spent so long thinking I didn't have a soulmate that… but it's really not your fault. I'm sorry."

"But—"

"Not your fault," Tony reiterated. "Are you really going to waste time apologising? We've got a lot of time to make up for."

Bucky swallowed hard. "Yeah… I reckon we do, huh, Doll. Should do something about that?"

Tony smiled and Bucky tugged him closer, until he was sitting in Bucky's lap.

"I wanna do this properly. You deserve that," Bucky said softly, nuzzling his face against Tony's neck. "So, I'm gonna go—" Tony let out a whine of dislike at that plan "—and I'll pick you up at seven," Bucky finished.

"A date?"

Bucky nodded. "Yep. I'm gonna wine you and dine you, sweetheart."

"And uh, maybe sixty nine me?" Tony offered, laughing when Bucky flushed scarlet and groaned. "I'll be ready at seven, I promise."

Bucky kissed his cheek and lifted him carefully off his lap. "I'll see you then. I'm going to go and take a… very cold… shower."

Tony watched him go with a small smile on his face. He had a soulmate.

"Gimme a heads up when it's six, J," he said, turning back to his work.

"Of course, Sir. And, may I say, congratulations."

"Hmm. Thanks, Buddy."

Written for:

Romance Awareness - Day 23: Soulmates can write to each other on their skin

Romance Awareness, Extra: 41. Theme: Forgiveness

365: 228. Adrenaline

1000: 327. Watching tv/movies