"Do you remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?" Bucky says abruptly one morning while they are just sitting down for coffee, and Steve freezes in place. He can almost feel the mountain wind whipping against his uniform, hear the zip-line creaking. The ravine below echoing with the approach of a speeding train. …
After a moment, he realizes Bucky is staring at him, looking a bit stricken. He's curled small and tense in his chair, worried he's done something wrong.
Steve clears his throat, making himself sit down and pour out a cup
"Yeah…" he manages after a moment. He forces a small smile onto his face. "And I threw up. Ruined your good shoes."
"Yeah…" Bucky says uncertainly. "And I- I bought you a soda to make up for it…?"
Steve's smile slowly creeps into his eyes. "You did. And I threw up all over again."
"Couldn't hold your cola?" There it is. The flicker of Bucky Barnes he remembers. There's a small, uneasy smirk hovering just at the corner of Bucky's lips.
"It was fizzy. Give me a break." Steve gripes. Bucky's face eases when he recognizes that this is ok. They are friends, poking fun. He has not stepped out of bounds again.
"You could put away cotton-candy like nobody's business though." Bucky settles naturally back into big-brother mode, teasing and relaxed, easing back in his chair as the tension ebbs out of his shoulders again. "I never could figure out where you were putting it. You weren't much bigger than the stick it was on to begin with."
"It's deceptively fluffy!" Steve says defensively. Bucky snorts and almost chokes on his coffee. "It's fluffy and delicious." Steve amends, watching Bucky's lips quirk behind the mug. "Besides, you owed me after you made me throw up my french fries."
"Not my fault you and gravity didn't get along." Bucky pounds his chest lightly to get the coffee down. " 'Course you and movement in general didn't get along, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised."
"You're such a jerk, Buck."
"Yeah, yeah, don't cry in your cup, Rogers." Bucky grins at him and pushes the coffee pot across the table to him. Steve rolls his eyes and refills his mug. It's about twice the size of a normal one, but he prefers it that way. It takes a lot of coffee to fuel a super-soldier some mornings.
