First Flame. ~Book One~

Chapter One: World Expo.

Two years later... 

Steve sat in the middle of a recruitment office as he read that morning's newspaper, the headline read 'Nazis burn Czech village to the ground', he sighed and turned the page in the paper, hoping that maybe he'd find some good news on the next page, but really it just kept getting worse. 
In the background, he could hear the recruitment officers calling for men who were, arguably, more readily able to go out there and fight, maybe he'd get lucky this time. "Boy," he said as he turned to another page. "A lot of guys are getting killed over there." 
"Rogers, Steven." The moment he heard his name being called, he folded the newspaper and got to his feet. 
"It kind of makes you think twice about enlisting, doesn't it?" Asked the guy who was sitting next to him. 
"Nope." Steve said without hesitation as he quickly walked toward one of the many podiums in the room that had a doctor standing behind it. He stood as tall as he could with his shirt off as the doctor read off his file. 
"Rogers," he said. "What did your father die of?" 
"Mustard gas. He was in the One Hundred and Seventh, I was hoping I could be assigned-" 
"Your mother?" 
Steve sighed. "She was a nurse in a TB ward, got hit, couldn't shake it." 
The doctor took a long look at his file, and he could already guess that he was going to be turned down again. Especially when the doctor looked up from the file to give him a guilty look that he'd become all to accustomed to seeing. "I'm sorry, Son." 
"Look," Steve said, starting to get desperate. "Just give me a chance." 
"You'd be ineligible on your asthma alone." 
"Is there anything you can do?" 
"I'm doing it," the doctor said as he picked up the denied stamp and put it on his file. "I'm saving your life." 
Steve puled his shirt back on and left the enlistment office, he'd just have to try again at another one, and the one after that, and probably another one after that. There was no way he'd cut his losses and give up. He still had a few minutes before he had to meet up with Red and Bucky for their last day before they both headed out to help win a war that he so desperately wanted to fight in. And what does one do when they don't succeed yet again? They go to the movie theater. 

"War continues to ravage Europe, but help is on the way. Every able-bodied young man is ling up to serve his country. Even little Timmy is doing his part my collecting scrap metal. Nice work Timmy!"   

"Who cares?!" Yelled some guy in front of him. "Play the movie already!" 
"Hey," Steve said in a hushed voice. "You wanna show some respect?" 

"Meanwhile, overseas, our brave boys are showing the Axis powers that the price for freedom is never too high!" 

"Let's go! Get on with it!" The man in front of him yelled again. "Hey, just start the cartoon!"
Beside Steve, a young woman was starting to cry. Already knowing that this was going to end with him getting dragged out to the alleyway next to the theater, Steve sat up in his seat and spoke louder. "Hey, Buddy. You wanna shut up?" 

"Together, with allied forces, we'll face any threat, no matter the size." 

The man got out of his seat and dragged Steve out of his. He provided very little resistance as he was dragged out of the theater and into the back alleyway. He started to take hits to the face and chest before he was thrown into a set a trashcans, he groaned as he stood back up with a lid in his hands. He hoped that he'd be able to use it as a sort of makeshift shield, to protect himself with it. After a short pause, the man pulled the lid out of his hands and threw it aside before he took hold of Steve again and threw him back into the trashcans. 
He laid there for a long moment, trying to gather his bearings and catch his breath since it had been knocked out of him when he hit the cans the second time. Slowly, he got back to his feet. 
"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" 
Steve held up his hands as he got ready to fight again. "I can do this all day." He moved forward to try and get a hit in, but e got knocked back down, much to his disappointment, and the man started to kick him in the ribs. This was something that he was used to, he was always too stubborn to back down from any fight. Truly, the only strange thing that happened was when the man stopped. 
When Steve looked up, he saw that the alleyway was being filled with smoke and ash. "I really think you should stop." Red said with her head titled to the side, and beside her was Bucky. It always amazed him that they were always able to find him when he got himself into trouble. 
Bucky grabbed the man's arm and pulled him away from Steve, "As the lady said, pick on someone your own size." He ducked out of the way to avoid getting hit and punched the man in the jaw before he ran off. 
"Gotta say," Red said as she landed on the ground and made the smoke and ash disappear from around them. "Not the best place to pick a fight." 
"He was being rude." Steve said as she helped him back to his feet. 
"Yeah, I know." She said as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "And I'm not going to waste my breath and try to tell you to, ya know, not get punched." 
"Sometimes I think you like getting punched." Bucky added with a sigh. 
Steve straightened out his jacket, feeling slightly annoyed. "I had him in the ropes." 
Red blinked at him. "Yes, Steve, laying on the ground and getting the shit beat out of you is exactly what you need to do to get someone in the ropes." 
"Very funny, Red." He said as he shot her a glare. "You could be more supportive, you know." 
"You want me to support you in getting your ass kicked?" 
"No, I want you to be more supportive in-" 
"Let's not go around in circles with each other." Bucky cut in before the argument could go any further, knowing that Red was just as, if not more, stubborn as Steve was. If it went on anymore, they would be going on and on in circles. 
He  bent down to pick up Steve's newest denied enlistment form. "How many times is this?" He raised an eyebrow as he read the papers. "Oh, you're from Paramas now? You know it's illegal to lie on the enlistment form, and seriously? Jersey?" 
Red gave a sarcastic gasp as her eyes went wide. "Oh, so, I'm supposed to support you in illegal activity? She sighed, mocking understanding. "Got it." 
"Red, there's a time and place for you to be a smartass." Steve said with another glare. 
"And there's a time and place for you to be smart." 
Bucky rolled his eyes at both of them. "Children, behave." 
Steve sighed as he gave up his needless banter with Red and looked up at the two of them. "You get your orders?" 
Bucky took a deep breath and looked down at Red as he reached down to grasp her hand. "The One-o-Seventh. Sergeant James Barnes, shipping out for England first thing tomorrow." 
Steve gave himself a few seconds to process that. At first, he felt jealous that one of his best friends would be going to the team he wanted to go on. And then he was worried, both for Bucky and Red, they'd been together pretty much since the day they met two years ago. Would she be okay if something happened to him?
"I should be going." Steve muttered as he side stepped the both of them and started to make his way out of the alleyway. He didn't want to burden them on their last night together anymore than he already had. 
"Come on, Man!" Bucky called after him. "It's our last night!" 
This made him pause before he turned around to face them again. "Our?" 
Red shifted from one foot to another as she looked up at Bucky and then back down to Steve. "I'm headed out to Manhattan to help Howard Stark with his efforts in the war." There was a part of Steve that felt like that was only part of the truth, and based on the look on Bucky's face, he caught it too. Red was many things, but a good liar was not one of them. 
"Yup." Bucky said with an easy going smile. "So we gotta get you cleaned up." 
"Why? Where are we going?" 
"The future." Bucky said with a smirk as he handed Steve a newspaper. 
The headline was about the World Exposition of Tomorrow, funded by Howard Stark himself, and this was what he read about as they made their way to Red and Bucky's house. 
+++
Inside her and Bucky's room, Red was in the middle of changing out of her work clothes and into a nice dress. She didn't think she should wear her usual attire when this was her last night with Bucky for the foreseeable future. 
Behind her, he was watching her get ready. "You know I can tell when you're lying, right?" 
Red slowly nodded as she fidgeted with her ring. "I know." 
"Then why are you trying to lie to me? Where are you really going tomorrow?" 
She took a deep, nervous breath as she turned to face him. "Would you believe me if I told you that I can't tell you?" Thanks to her work with the SSR, she couldn't tell Steve or, more importantly, Bucky about her efforts in the war. In the beginning, when she got there, it wasn't so hard to deal with, it was just her, but as the years went on and her relationship with Bucky progressed, it started to kill her that she had to lie to her loved ones. 
With a sigh, he got to his feet and gently cupped her cheeks in his hands as he looked into her face. Was he trying to read what she couldn't tell him? If only the words were painted across her forehead, it would make things so much easier on both of them. 
"Red... Honey, what have you gotten yourself mixed into?" 
Red gave him a small smile. "Nothing I can't get myself out of, I promise." It always warmed her heart when he was worried for her like this. He knew she was strong enough to take on the world if she had too, but he would always be waiting to step in when she got tired. 
"And you'll be safe?" 
"As safe as I can be with everything going on." 
Bucky leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss against her lips as he rubbed his thumbs against her cheekbones. Every kiss felt like it was their first one, and every time they did kiss, Red had to remind herself to keep breathing. As always, it was regrettably over too soon. 
"You'll be leaving sooner than tomorrow, won't you?" He asked, his voice soft as he leaned his forehead against hers. 
"I'll uhh..." Red cleared her throat as her voice became thick with tears. "I'll be gone before you wake up." 
"Then we'll have to make the most out of tonight, won't we?" 
"I think that's an amazing idea." She whispered as he leaned down to kiss her again. 
The only thing that stopped it was the sound of Steve clearing his throat awkwardly from the doorway. "We're gonna be late if we don't hurry." 
Red chuckled. "Right, sorry." She leaned up on her toes to kiss Bucky's cheek before she turned away to grab her purse." 
"I can go if you guys want me too." Steve said, responding to the look of disappointment that Red suspected Bucky was giving him. 
"No," she said as she checked her purse to make sure she had everything she needed. "It's okay, we can't keep Connie waiting." 
Steve raised an eyebrow as he looked between his two best friends. "Connie?" 
Red hoped that he was in for a good night, and that hopefully it would work out this time.
+++
Bucky kept his hands firm on Red's as they walked toward the Expo. He had the suspicion that she had some other worldly thing she had to handle, it was a given because she was an other worldly being, being an Asgardian and all. He also knew that she wouldn't want to be stuck on the sidelines during the war. 
What worried him the most was that he knew, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, that she was chomping at the bit, almost as hard as Steve was, to get into the thick of the fight. The sad thing was, he knew that she could handle herself better than Steve ever could, she'd fought in hundreds of wars during her life. But he wanted this one to be the last. 
"I don't see what the problem is," he was saying to Steve as they passed a few of the interesting exhibits. "You're about to be the last eligible man in New York, there's about three and a half million women here." 
"I'd settle for just one." Steve said as he struggled to keep up with them. 
"Well, good thing we took care of that." He said as he shared a knowing smile with Red. God, did he love her smile. 
"and hopefully, she's the one." Red said as she waved down a blonde woman that was ahead of them. That must have been Connie. 
Connie waved back with a bright smile. "Hey, Red!" 
Red gave his hand a gentle squeeze before she let go and jogged to greet the other woman. 
"What did you guys tell her about me?" Steve asked as they watched Red and Connie lock arms and walk toward the stage as they talked excitedly. 
"Only the good stuff." Bucky said as he patted Steve's shoulder and the two of them pushed through the crowd to catch up with the girls. 

"Welcome to the Modern Marvels Pavilion and the World of Tomorrow. A greater world, a better world." 

"Oh my God!" Connie exclaimed excitedly as the small group reached the front. "It's starting." 
Bucky reached down to grasp Red's free hand as a showgirl walked out onto the stage with a microphone in hand. "Ladies and Gentlemen!" She announced happily. "Howard Stark!" 
From the corner of his eye, he watched Red roll her eyes as Howard Stark came out on the stage and kissed the woman. Bucky chuckled as he kissed the side of her head and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "And that's the guy you're working with." 
Red sighed before she chuckled. "Unfortunately." 
"I love you, Howard!" Yelled a random woman in the crowd. 
Howard chuckled as he looked over the audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen, what if I told you that, in a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all?" Behind him, the showgirls took the wheels off of a very nice looking car. "Thank you, Mandy." He said to the one he had kissed when he arrived. "With Stark Robotic Technology, you'll be able to do just that." 
As they watched, he flipped a switch on the board before him, and the car started to float off of the ground. It was truly mind blowing. "Holy shit." Bucky muttered, more to himself than anyone else. 
Beside him, Red smiled. "It sure is something." 
Suddenly, the motors on the car malfunctioned and sparked dangerously before it fell back onto the stage. Howard chuckled again. "I did say in a few years, didn't I?"  
As the crowd around them laughed, Bucky gave Red's hand a squeeze before he started to turn around to talk to Steve, who should have still been behind him. "Hey, Steve, why don't we treat these girls-" he broke off when he was fully facing the space his friend was, in fact, missing. 
Red nodded toward a nearby building. "The Enlistment Center." 
As Red, Connie and Bucky made their way toward the building, he realized that Steve was never going to give up on joining the army, and without him or Red being there, he was probably going to managed to get in. 
Actually, that last part was probably going to happen with, without, him being there.
+++
Steve slowly walked through the enlistment office with his hands deep in his pockets. As a couple left the building and headed back out to the Expo, he stepped in front of a mirror and an image of a faceless soldier, but he realized too late that he was too short to fill the spot. 
"Come on," Bucky said as he suddenly appeared behind him. "You're kind of missing the point of a double date." He smiled as he looked over his shoulder and at Red, before he turned back to face Steve. "We're taking the girls dancing." 
He liked seeing the two of them together, it made him happy to see his best friends happy, they were so in love that it was almost gross to be around and watch them all the time. Steve wished he could find something like that. 
"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you." Steve said as he glanced around them, but he was completely unaware of the fact that he was being watched by both Red, and a nearby doctor. 
Bucky sighed as he looked down at him. This was only one of many times that he'd ever given Steve that look of disappointment. "You're really gonna do this again." 
"Well, it's a fair." Steve said with a shrug. "I'm gonna try my luck." 
"As who? Steve from Ohio? They'll catch you, or worse they'll actually take you." 
"Look, I know you and Red don't think I can do this." 
Bucky looked astonished that he could say such a thing, but Steve knew it was true. "Steve," he said. "This isn't a back alley, it's war!" 
Steve gave him a flat look. "I know it's a war, you don't have to tell me." 
"Somebody has too!" Bucky exclaimed before he sighed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "Why are you so keen to fight? There are so many important jobs." 
"What am I gonna do? Collect scrap metal-" 
"Yes!" 
"In my little red wagon?" 
"Why not?" 
Fighting off a glare, Steve said. "I'm not gonna sit in a factory, Bucky." 
"I don't-" 
"Bucky, come on!" Steve snapped. "There are men laying down their lives, I got no right to do less than them, that's what you two don't understand. This isn't about me." 
Bucky gave him an exasperated look. "Right, 'cause you've got nothing to prove." 
Behind them, Red called. "Hey, Love! We going dancing, or what?" 
Bucky, without even thinking about it, smiled brightly as he turned back around to face her and Connie. "Yes we are." He turned back to face Steve again. "Don't do anything stupid until we get back." 
Steve gave him a small smirk. "How can I?" He nodded toward Red before turning his gaze back to him. "You guys are taking all the stupid with you." 
"You're a punk." He said as he pulled Steve in a hug.
Steve returned the embrace with a smile. "Jerk. You be careful." As he watched Bucky walk away, he called after him. "Don't win the war until I get there!" 
He gave Steve a mock salute before he rejoined the girls. "Come on, Ladies, they're playing our song." 
As they walked away, Steve noticed that Red had a grim look on her face as Bucky took her hand. Could it be because this was their last night together for a while? That was the easiest explanation Steve had, because there was no way she heard their conversation. 
+++
Red caught the way Erskine was eyeing Steve back there, and she knew, or at last suspected, that he was going to choose him for the experiment. For as long as she could remember, she could recall that Abraham Erskine was looking for someone with very specific traits for the serum, and Steve was perfect for it. 
She was so withdrawn into her own thoughts that she barely noticed it when Bucky gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "What's on your mind?" He muttered into her ear as he gave her a worried look. 
"Hmm?" She murdered and blinked. "Oh, nothing, I-" 
"Red, I know it's not nothing." 
Red opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before she could find the right words. "I... I think Steve might get in this time." 
Bucky's concern for her wellbeing was quickly replaced with confusion. "What makes you say that?" 
"Just a lucky guess." 
Knowing that she probably couldn't, or even shouldn't, tell why she knew Steve was going to get into the army, he sighed in defeat. ".... Alright... I won't push the subject." 
Red smiled as she lifted their hands and draped one of his arms over her shoulders. "Just... for the rest of the night, until I leave, can we act like normal people that live normal lives in a normal world?" 
Bucky gave a soft chuckle. "Says the Asgardian who can control fire." 
Red rolled her eyes, fighting off the urge to remind him that she could only control the fire that existed in her body. "I know it's stretch for both of us." 
He kissed the top of her head. "But I think we can do it, just for tonight." 
"Thank you." She whispered as they reached the building in the Expo that was set aside for dancing. As they watched, Connie got swept off her feet by a soldier that was also most likely getting ready to ship off in the morning. She hoped that Connie would have a night, hopefully all would. 
"So," Bucky said as he Red into slow dance. "What normal, mundane thing would you like to do tonight?" 
"Well, I have a few ideas, Mister Barnes." 
"Oh? And what are these ideas, Miss North?" 
Red have him a small, impish grin. "If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it?" 
"Then I look forward to this surprise." 
Red laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes, smiling as she listened to his heart beating, it was one of the most relaxing sounds she'd ever heard her entire life. "I'll miss you while you're away." 
"I'll miss you too, but I'll come home." He rested his chin on the top of her head and held her close to his body. "I'll always come home, my Little Fire." 
She gave soft smile. "I'll hold you to that, James." 
Bucky chuckled. "I like the way you say my name." 
"Why? Because of my accent?" 
"Yes, but also no." He said as he slowly turned them in a circle. "It just sounds right when you say it." 
Red smiled brighter. The truth was, she loved saying his name. It felt as right to her as it did to him. Even back on Asgard, when she was with Loki, it never felt as right as it did when she was with Bucky. She opened her eyes and raised her head to look up at him. "You wanna go home?" 
"Yeah, let's go home." He smiled before he kissed her forehead. 
She glanced over her shoulder and at Connie, who looked like she was having the time of her life. After Red checked in with her, making sure she would be okay if they went ahead and went home, she and Bucky slowly walked toward the house. 
They had silently agreed to take their time on the way home, as if they had decided that they needed to relish every precious moment together until they had to go their separate ways for the next few months, or even years. 
"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you wear a dress." Bucky said as he looked her over. As always, whenever he took a moment to glance over her body, a shiver of pleasure fluttered over her body. 
"Back home, I refused to wear dresses." Red said as she reached over to hold his hand. "I always thought 'How am I supposed to fight in a dress?' but I thought that tonight should be the exception to my rule." 
"I appreciate the change." He said with a smile as he intertwined their fingers. "But you shouldn't have had to fight." 
"In Asgard, I was one of two great women fighters." Red gave him a big and proud smile as she spoke. This was a story she's told him dozens of times before this, but it still seemed to fascinate him. "Lady Sif and I were the first of a new wave of warriors." 
"And they let you?" 
"Not like they could stop us. Thousands of years ago, there were even greater warriors than us, the Valkyrie." Red knew that it wasn't that Bucky was being sexist, asking these sorts of questions was normal in a place where it was rare to see a woman fight in a war. And that, coupled with his worry for her, caused the perfect conditions for him to be confused. "They were a while army of women warriors who were sworn to protect the throne." She giggled. "My brothers and I wanted to join them when we were kids." 
Bucky smiled as he listened to the stories, she rarely ever spoke about her life in Asgard, it was like she was trying to make a clean break from the place she had grown up. "And did you?" 
Red shook her head. "No, we were only children, and by the time we were old enough to, most of Valkrie had died, and those who hadn't, fled Asgard." 
"You think they could've done it?" 
"Of course not." Red said with another giggle. "The Valkyrie would have never let them... even though they had the hair for it." 
Bucky laughed at that before he got serious again. "Given the chance, would you fight here?" 
"Yes." Red said without hesitation. "I would in a heartbeat." She pulled them to a stop outside of the house as she looked up at him. "This world-this small, fragile blue one, is something that needs protecting. That was one of the reasons I came here." 
"I thought it was because you felt like you belonged here." He smirked as he gently brushed her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.
"It was because of that too." 
"And not because your father banished you?" 
"He didn't banish me," per se. "He sent me here to find a very old, very powerful artifact." She gave another small smile. "But I would have come here regardless." 
"Because you belong here?" 
"Yes, because I belong here, with you, and I wouldn't go back for anything." 
This seemed to satisfy his line of questioning and he pressed another kiss to her forehead, then peppered kisses across her cheekbones and nose before he finally kissed her lips. "My beautiful whirlwind of an Asgardian, would you like to go inside and spend the rest of the night with me?" 
"I'd love nothing more." 
As far as Red could see, that would be the last full night of passion that they would share until the war ended. Every second seemed to pass by slowly and all she wanted to do was stay and see him off in the morning like dozens of other wives and girlfriends were going to be able to do the following morning. 
But, as soon as she was sure he was deeply asleep, she carefully got out of bed and got dressed before she leaned over him and kissed his forehead, whispering "I love you" As she did. The moment the front door was locked behind her, she flew up and into the sky as tears slowly fell down her cheeks.