Author's Note: It's been too long since I've updated this! It was fun to return to this writing challenge; it exercises different muscles than what I usually write. The prompts for this chapter were suggested by NewMoonFlicker and CapGirlCanuck. 72 and 73 are connected (they're supposed to be when Steve finds Bucky in CW, if that's not clear), and 75 and 76 are connected.
Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
71. Tender
Bucky has a tender smile that only Steve can ever see—not because Bucky never smiles, but because Steve is the only one who knows when to look.
72. Justice
Bucky looks up at Steve, waiting for the rain of justice to fall on his head, and he doesn't run away or plead for his life, because there is no better standard to be held to.
73. Mercy
Steve looks at Bucky, trying to prepare himself for the possibility that Bucky is guilty after all...but in that moment, the only thing he feels towards him is mercy.
74. Value
It's so hard for Bucky to believe he has any value at all...until Steve tells him he's the most important person in his life.
75. Forever
Forever is a long time, and Bucky is sure that Steve's love will run out before forever does, but something in his eyes keeps him waiting...just in case.
76. Finite
Life is finite, time is finite, even the stars are finite; Steve just hopes he can use that time to convince Bucky that love is not.
77. Moonlight
The white wolf sits bathed in moonlight, howling his loneliness to the night sky...and somewhere, in the golden land of the sun, another wolf answers.
78. Crash
Bucky likes to say that the best thing he ever did was crash Sam's car; and though Sam complains and Bucky laughs at him, neither would really change a thing—because that was the day Steve found hope again.
79. Afterglow
Two figures sit silhouetted against the afterglow of the Wakandan sunset—one without an arm, the other without a shield, yet both are complete.
80. Clippers
Some days Steve's love is as huge and earth-shattering as the movement of tectonic plates; other days, it's as small and simple as grabbing the fingernail clippers to trim the nails on Bucky's only hand.