"Soulmate 1"

"Do you remember soulmateship?"

Bucky frowned. "I… not really?"

"Everyone is born with a soulmark on their left palm," Steve said, holding out his hand to show Bucky the 'Oh my God, you're adorable' written there. "The first words your soulmate will say to you."

"Soulmate?"

His heart ached for his friend; the shell of him, really. It made him even angrier that HYDRA took this from him.

"Your true love," he said. "Any kind of love, but usually the romantic type. No matter who's born first, the words there from the beginning, and most people get to meet their soulmates. Not everyone, but most." He watched as Bucky traced the words with his thumb. "A lot of people think it's just an old-fashioned superstition to keep the words secret, and only show them after you've found your other half…"

"But you don't agree," Bucky said.

"I found my girl the other day," Steve said. "But until then, yeah, I kept the glove on."

Bucky sat back, nodding. "I don't really remember it, but maybe it'll start to come back to me."

"I hope so," he said. "`Cause you never showed me yours, and…"

He trailed off, using his eyes to indicate Bucky's prosthesis.

"So it's gone?" Bucky said. His expression didn't change.

"People who lose their left hand, or arm, don't get their soulmark back," Steve said haltingly. "Their soulmate is still out there – sometimes they've met them – but even if they haven't taken a picture, they usually remember the mark."

"But I don't."

"No." Steve put on his determined face. "Whish is why we have to help you remember."

It took awhile, but now that Bucky had seen a few soulmarks, knew what they meant, and read up the lore, he eventually remembered most of his soulmark. Not all, but hopefully enough, and Steve said that his handwriting was the same scrawl as before.

In the meantime, they'd found out that SHIELD was back up and running under the directorship of someone named Coulson, who was apparently supposed to be dead, making all the original Avengers angry. Bucky couldn't understand why.

"But… people usually don't stay dead," he said, earning a few glares. "Fury, Pepper, Pietro." He pointed to himself. "Me? I don't understand why you're upset. Shouldn't you be happy? I thought you liked him?"

"He didn't tell us he alive," Clint said, clutching his hands into fists. Bucky tilted his head.

"And?" he said. "I don't blame `im, if you're all gonna act like this when you meet `im."

They went into Coulson's office one or two at a time. Steve and Buky went in third, since Natasha and Clint were still seething, and apparently wanted to make him squirm with anticipation. It seemed petty to Bucky, but what did he know about it?

"Captain Rogers," Coulson said. He was rapping the fingers of his right hand on the desk, left arm partially hidden beneath his jacket. It was pretty cool inside; Bucky couldn't blame for him that.

"Agent Coulson," Steve said, his tone colder than the room. "Sorry, Director Coulson."

"I've heard that a few times today," Coulson muttered. He cleared his throat, and half-smiled when he met Bucky's eyes. "Never thought I'd meet you. It's a real honour, sir."

Bucky hadn't told anyone, and there was no way HYDRA could've known. As far as he could remember, his arm had been left behind at the scene, probably become fish food, and there was… there was no way. He tried to keep breathing evenly, but Steve must've noticed something was wrong, because he murmured Bucky's name. He just shook his head, and saw the concern on Coulson's face.

"I can't show you the words," he blurted out. He heard Coulson's breath hitch. "They were… I can't show you." Damn it, couldn't he be more eloquent than that. His gaze dropped to the floor, and he swallowed deeply before looking up against. He gestured vaguely to his arm, to the metal hand peaking out from beneath the sleeve of his hoodie. Coulson… chuckled. He was laughing at it. Bucky itched to run away and hide, anything so he didn't have to face this. Why'd he think it was a good idea to speak at all?

"`Fraid I can't, either," Coulson said. Then he moved his left arm, and… oh. His left hand was missing. No prosthetic replacement, either; just a stump halfway up his lower arm. The end of the sleeve was pinned up. Steve gasped.

"We… didn't know about that," he said. "At least I didn't. You… you didn't tell us."

"What was the point?" Coulson said, though his eyes didn't move from Bucky's. "I'd prefer you treat the same as you did before."

"We would've gone easier on you—"

"Exactly my point." He broke eye contact to stare at the desk instead, and tucked his arm back into his jacket. "I'm sure you want to send someone else in."

"I wanna stay," Bucky said. The time for spontaneous action had come. Coulson's eyebrows rose. "You're my soulmate. Or… well, those were my words. Couldn't remember all of `em, but I do now, and… I'm sure you'll wanna see my writing, make sure it matches. I don't have a picture of mine, but I swear, you really did say them. You did! Honest!"

"I believe you," Coulson said softly. "I can show you the photograph I have of mine. Here's paper and a pen." He deftly pulled some from a drawer, and Bucky scribbled down what he could remember while Coulson did something on his phone. They compared the handwriting on the paper with the picture on the phone, and it was a definite match. Bucky felt joy welling up inside. He thought he'd lost this. "Do you want me to—"

"No," he said. "I trust you. Besides, we'd have been able to tell later on."

"I…" Coulson's cheeks turned pink. "If you want to."

"Right now?"

"Uh—"

"I know that's not what you meant, but if I learned anything from the war – and everything else – it's that we could die any day. I don't wanna waste time. Do you?"

"I certainly don't."

"So…?" He trailed off, hopeful. Coulson hesitated, and then smiled.

"Yes," he said. Bucky was incredibly tempted to pump his fist in the air, and only refrained because it would look weird.

"Lead on to your rooms, then," he said. Coulson looked thrown for only a moment, and glanced at the door. "Phil?"

"…Don't say my name like that, or you'll only ever get your own way."

"What do I tell the others?" Steve asked as he preceded them to the door, opening it like the gentleman he really wasn't.

"That I'm getting to know my soulmate."

"In every way," Bucky said, waggling his eyebrows.

I had no idea how much I'd written. This goes for over 1000 words! I can't find how to do the 'read more' line on Tumblr, because it's changed or something, so I have to keep the chapters shorter, and then post the longer stuff on fan fiction sites and post links on the blog.

Anyway. Please review! There are more soulmate fics to come, because writing 'Fate Has a Twisted Sense of Humour' has affected me, apparently.