Summary: Bucky and Steve are somehow coerced into doing the yard-work and Bucky has a slight panic attack.

Bucky sighs as he wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. He grimaces once he realizes he used his left hand because sweat plus metal doesn't mix well together. He tries to wipe off his left hand on his sweatshirt when something comes barreling past him.

The pile of leaves scatter everywhere, a mix of red, orange and brown floating around him. He's taken in by the sight that he almost misses a certain little boy giggling gleefully in the mess he's made.

"Uncle Bucky look!" Peter throws his hands up in the air, causing more leaves to scatter.

Bucky makes a disgruntled noise and he really can't get mad. Because it's Peter and only Peter could do stuff like this and get away with it.

"There goes all our hard work." Steve strides up with a rake in hand and laughs at the mess. He's got some leaves in his hair, so Bucky walks up and tousles his hair until they're all gone.

He's still got his hands tangled in Steve's hair and he locks his eyes on his boyfriend's face. Steve squirms and looks away self-consciously. He clears his throat and harrumphs a couple times but Bucky is still staring no matter what. Steve looks very pretty in the afternoon light and the fall-like atmosphere.

"Hey boys! More work less eye-sex," Rebecca calls out from her own pile of leaves.

Bucky splutters and glares at his sister who sticks out her tongue. Peter falls over laughing at the sight of his uncle and mommy making faces at each other and Steve just thinks the whole thing is adorable.

Bucky and Steve had decided to drive up and visit the Barnes family. Only once they got there Bucky immediately turned around and started to head back to his car when his mother decided to seize such a golden opportunity. Next thing they knew, they had rakes in their hands and were tasked with cleaning up the yard.

Both front and back.

It also turned out that Rebecca got roped into it too, and she and Bucky had already started arguing over who had the front yard, who was doing more work, etc. etc. So Steve took matters into his own hands and with the use of his military training divided the yard up into equal sections. Each person had a few sections, and this way it was fair and there would be no starting World War III.

It kind of went all to waste though once Peter started running around and jumping into every pile he saw. Rebecca had already threatened him with life-sentenced-time-outs but nothing seemed to work. Peter was now five, meaning he was starting to learn the art of bargaining and Rebecca's lost more battles than she can count.

Steve chuckles and kisses the side of Bucky's face. "Back to work," he mumbles and starts working on the Peter-induced-mess.

Bucky sighs in defeat because his sister is an asshole (a very lovable asshole) and Steve just looked really good captured amidst the falling leaves. Bucky also admits that he can't help staring every time Steve bends down, or his clearly defined muscles flex when he stretches, or when the little beads of sweat drip down the side of his face and Bucky wants to lick them up and tangle his hands in his hair and basically Bucky just wants to fuck his boyfriend very badly.

Steve turns and smirks when he catches Bucky staring. Bucky can feel his ears heating up and focuses all his of efforts on raking because raking seems to calm down all sexual urges.

Rebecca sidles up next to him and waggles her eyebrows up and down. She leans in and murmurs, "I see London, I see France, I see the glorious captain's sexy underpants."

Bucky chokes and shoves at his sister, who loses her balance and falls right on top of one of the piles she just raked up.

"JAMES I SWEAR TO MOTHER-EFFING GOD!" She squawks and launches into full attack mode. Bucky makes a break for it and picks up one of the nearby trash can lids in the hopes that it'll come in handy.

Steve watches them run around the yard and shakes his head. He doesn't have the heart to yell and plus—

"JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES AND REBECCA PAMELA BARNES YOU GET BACK TO WORK RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

—Plus this is what Mrs. Barnes is here for.

The two siblings shrink in on themselves ("You've only seen my ma get upset. But you've never seen her get angry.") and shuffle back to work.

Mrs. Barnes huffs and slips back inside.

Steve's not sure how many more hours he can last outside and shivers as a breeze whooshes right past him.

Bucky leans against the handle of his rake and observes his hard-earned work. He and Rebecca managed not to fight for the next two hours and wah-lah! The yard looked absolutely spotless.

It was amazing what you could get done without all the extraneous bickering and bitching back and forth.

He felt something rest on his shoulder and turned his head to meet Steve's eyes. He looked as tired as Bucky felt, but still quite satisfied. He slipped both his hands around Bucky's waist and reeled him in a little so that he was resting some of his weight against him.

"Enjoying yourself there?" Bucky asked in amusement.

Steve hummed and ghosted his lips over Bucky's neck. Bucky shivered and tried to steady his breathing. Getting heated in front of his parents who were probably watching from inside was not exactly on his list of good ideas.

"You know the rents are watching right?"

"Mhmm."

"And maybe my sister too?"

"Yep."

"And Peter?"

Steve lifted his head up and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're right. Screw it," Bucky decided. He threw his rake to the side and reached up to grab Steve's face in his hands.

Their lips were only scant inches from touching when something with the familiarity of gunshots resounded through the air.

On instinct Bucky ducked and pulled Steve down with him.

"Wait, Bucky—!"

"Steve shut the hell up and don't argue with me we're under attack just get down!" Bucky screamed as he plastered himself on top of Steve. He made a quick survey of his surroundings but there didn't seem to any enemies in sight. His hand twitched but then remembered he didn't have a gun or any other weapons on him.

Dammit. How was he supposed to protect his family?!

He needed to protect them. His parents, Rebecca, and Peter oh god Peter. And Steve. Right now Steve was the one in danger and Bucky had to make sure he was okay. He had to be his shield and armor because Steve was important to him and there was no way Bucky could let him get hurt and—

More gunshots blared and Bucky clutched Steve with all his might. When he felt the coast was clear he kneeled up and looked around to assess the damage. It was possible there were snipers from the rooftops, or they were in camouflage and probably hiding in the bushes. Yeah, that seemed like the most likely bet.

His mind was still in combat mode until Steve grabbed his face and forced him to meet his gaze.

"Bucky, listen to me. There are no enemies, okay? We're not in Afghanistan anymore. We're at your parents' house. It's the year 2014, it's a Saturday. We drove up together, remember? Bucky please, I'm right here okay? I'm not hurt I'm right here." The words came out hurried and rushed.

Bucky's pupils were blown wide and he jumped as another gunshot went off. He tried pulling Steve down again but he caught his arm.

"Steve please we need to take shelter I need to protect you please I—"

"Dammit Jerry it's getting away! Shoot that goose down already would you?!"

Bucky's breath caught in his throat as he tried to comprehend the words. Goose? Shoot it down? What? Then he saw his neighbor in the yard over with a hunting gun aimed at the sky. A goose squawked as it hit the ground with a sickening thump and crack.

"W-what? What's going on? Steve?" He fisted his hands in Steve's shirt and peered up with frantic eyes.

"Sssh shh Bucky, it's okay. It was just your neighbors, nothing more. We're okay. I'm okay." Steve squeezed his hands and nodded reassuringly.

Bucky kept twitching at the slightest sounds, and he jumped once or twice as more gunshots tore through the sky.

He took one final shaky breath as he gathered his bearings together. They were okay, everything was fine, it was just his stupid neighbors doing some hunting was all. Nothing to worry about.

They're both huddled up on the ground, with Steve patting Bucky's head and holding him close.

"Uh, Steve," he croaks out, " 'M fine now. You uh, you can let go now." He awkwardly pats Steve on the arm but he still doesn't let go. "Steve?"

"No," Steve whispers. "You're not fine, and I can see right through you. You're not lying out of his one James."

Bucky blinks at the sudden usage of his first name. Steve only ever calls him 'James' when it's something serious.

Bucky sighs against his boyfriend and slumps farther down. He's right, Steve's always right. He always manages to see straight through Bucky despite the fact that he's a pretty damn good liar. The only people who can only ever tell that he's lying are Natasha and this stupid punk here. Sam can normally pick it out too, but then again he's Sam so that doesn't really count.

"How come you weren't affected?" Bucky mumbles. "How come you didn't.."

Steve stills and the patting stops. Bucky pulls back and notices a distant look in the other man's eyes. He seems really faraway right now and Bucky starts feeling nervous again. But then Steve's vision comes into focus and he's back in the present again.

"Oh, Buck, of course I was affected."

"Then why didn't you react the way I did?"

"Because.." He bites his lip as he tries to think of an explanation. "I guess you could say I'm sort of used to it by now."

"Oh." That made sense. Steve's been out of the army longer than Bucky has, give or take a couple years. It would only make that Steve is completely 100% recovered at this point. And Bucky thought he was too until he had that stupid panic attack and it was like being in Afghanistan all over again.

"But you know what? I still react at certain things," Steve says quietly.

"Really? Like what?" Bucky takes one of Steve's hands and traces the lines along his palm.

"Like fireworks." Steve looks down at this and furrows his brow. "Fireworks are what usually do it for me. And you know about my thing with water. And sometimes alarms. I can't tell you how many times I jumped at the sound of my phone ringing or my alarm clock." He looks back up and gives a small smile. "It's okay to still be scared, Bucky. God knows I am sometimes."

Bucky makes a frustrated noise and grips his hair tightly. "I know I just… Fuck I just thought I'd be better by now. I thought I'd be cured." He puts some slight pressure on Steve's palm. He feels so frustrated with himself. Why can't he just be better already? How long was he supposed to endure this, his whole life?

"And you will be cured. Trust me, it does get better from here on out. I'm living proof of that aren't I?" Steve leans down and plants light feathery kisses on each of Bucky's fingers. He shivers at the pressure, but it puts his mind at ease and he's starting to think clearly again.

"Yeah, I guess," Bucky mumbles.

Steve glances up and his mouth quirks just the tiniest bit around the corners. He leans back up but he's closer than before and pecks Bucky on the nose. He decides to take Bucky's response as some sort of acceptance.

"Oh, and before I forget: you're not the only one doing all the protecting here."

"Yeah, yeah." Bucky rolls his eyes and nuzzles his head against the safety of Steve's chest, because he does feel safe here with Steve's arms wrapped securely around him.

"Please remember that it's okay to not be.. okay. Okay?"

Bucky chuckles at Steve's lack of vocab.

Maybe he's not fine now, or he might never be, but that's basically his life in a nutshell and as Sam said at one point: everyone has their own demons. It's Bucky who has to decide whether he wants to fight them or not.