"Soulmate 2"

Bucky opened the door cautiously. Had the man in stripes and the one with wings finally found him?

No. It was a man in a suit, smiling pleasantly. Bucky was hesitant to smile back, but the guy looked relatively harmless. And even if he wasn't, Bucky could handle him, easy. So he opened the door wider and cocked his head; better to let the stranger talk first.

"Welcome Wagon."

He struck first, left fist aiming for the man's face. The smile dropped as he raised his arms to protect himself, but Bucky pulled back at the last moment when he saw something he didn't expect. That split second of reconsidering cost him, since the man, with surprising strength, hit Bucky in the left side, making him turn just enough for the stranger to wrench his right arm behind his back.

"Shit, let me go!" he said, forgetting temporarily that he was the Winter Soldier. The man's grasp tightened momentarily.

"What did you say?" he asked.

Bucky pulled away and snapped into a defensive position. Despite not attacking again, the guy quickly put his hands up, probably recognizing that Bucky was not to be messed with.

"Sergeant Barnes, I'm Phil Coulson—"

"Are you HYDRA?"

Coulson's mouth tightened, and his body tensed. "No. Not HYDRA, though… I can't blame you for thinking that. I'm the director of New SHIELD. And HYDRA's gone. Between us and the Avengers, all the leaders are down and most of the agents, too. There are some still out there, probably always will be, but they have no one to lead them." He tilted his head. "Unless you plan to, which I very much doubt."

"But you…" Bucky relaxed, crossing his arms, and hunched his shoulders as he glanced at Coulson through the strands of his lanky hair. Coulson lowered his hands.

"May I come inside?" he asked.

"You'd better, I guess."

Coulson nodded, and moved past Bucky, keeping a sensible distance. Bucky locked the door, still not willing to mention the soulmark think to him yet, but wondering how else to broach the topic. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

"I'm wondering whether…" Coulson began. Bucky didn't reply, so he continued. "The way you reacted, believed I was HYDRA." His gaze flicked away, then back to Bucky. "You said my soulmark words, and I'm wondering whether I said yours. Did HYDRA try that to get to you?"

"Not yet," Bucky said. "I know my own handwriting, damn it. Nah, they never brought someone in saying 'Welcome Wagon'. They could control me without doing that." He clenched his hands. "Did HYDRA do that to you?" He gestured vaguely to Coulson's left arm, or what was left of it, which had distracted him in the first place.

"This? No. It was one of my agents. I… I grabbed an alien object which began to turn me to stone, so he cut off my arm before it could spread and kill me."

Bucky's stomach turned over at the thought that he could've lost his soulmate like that. He stepped closer, and Coulson reached for the buttons of his jacket. He managed to undo them and start to struggle out of it, but Bucky grabbed his right hand.

"Where's your mark?" he asked quietly.

"My right arm."

"Then let me." Slowly, `cause he wanted to savour it, and Coulson might've still been in pain, he stripped the jacket off, and would've done the same with the shirt if Coulson hadn't stopped him, and suggested just undoing the cuff of the shirt. Bucky followed his advice, gently moving the material up until the whole of 'Shit, let me go' was displayed in his handwriting. He exhaled shakily, and on the spur of the moment kissed the mark. Coulson's breath hitched, which made Bucky feel kinda smug.

"Can I see yours?" he said. Bucky smirked against the skin.

"S'on my back," he said. "Hope you don't mind if I strip off."

Coulson cleared his throat. "Not at all."

Saucy! And yet not. The next story is sadder, but I'll put a warning at the start.

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