[Stucky One Shots and Drabbles]

Laughter Lines

            Slowly and to a steady beat, Bucky's shoes tapped against the white tile floor.
He figured that they must have been cleaned recently- when he came here yesterday, there were muddy footprints lining the hallways.
Today the floors shined pristinely.

Yesterday, Steve was also in a bad mood. The floors matched Bucky's mind when he left- muddled.

The nurse had told him that Steve had slept terribly. She told him he'd tossed and turned all night long, and that his body was in aggravating pain.

When they were young, Steve would joke about Bucky being a grumpy old man, just because he was a year older than Steve. Occasionally Bucky wanted to remind Steve that now he was the grumpy old man in a nursing home. However, he decided not to.

Steve usually wasn't very grumpy at all. Despite his super soldier serum finally wearing off and his body deteriorating because of it, Steve usually remained pretty happy.

Bucky thought that it probably had a lot to do with him going back in time to live out his life with Peggy. He allowed himself to imagine that maybe Steve was just happy to see him.

A CNA with kind but tired looking eyes entered the waiting room and told him he could come back now. He gave her a small nod and a quiet "Thank you" as he headed to Steve's room.

He knocked softly before entering, not waiting for a response from inside. He never got one anyways. The room was dark, only lit by the flickering light of the television which played the news on mute. The curtain dividing the room was halfway drawn, so Bucky could only see Steve's legs and feet as he laid in the bed provided.

Bucky made his way around the curtain until Steve's face was in view.
He couldn't help but to grimace just a little bit every time. Every time, Steve looked worse. His face was lined with wrinkles like a crumpled piece of paper. His lips were cracked and dry, and seemed to be loosing their color.

He gave his old friend a small smile. "Hey, Pal."

Steve looked at him for a long moment. He did that a lot. Bucky would say something and Steve would take a while to respond. Bucky wasn't sure if his brain just took longer to receive the message and figure out a response or what. It used to make Bucky uncomfortable and still did sometimes, but for the most part, he'd gotten used to it.

Steve gave him a small nod. "Buck. Good to see you."

"You too, Steve."

Yesterday, Steve had glared at Bucky for the majority of his visit. He hollered at the nurse who inserted an IV into his wrist.

Bucky glanced at Steve's wrist at the thought, to see that the IV remained inserted today. He wondered how many times Steve had ripped it out in the night.

After pulling a chair closer to the bed, his chair, as most of the nursing staff now labeled it, he sat down next to Steve. "Went for a run with Sam today. Hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks. He's been seeing some girl now that he's really into."

Steve slowly cracked a smile. With a nod, he said, "Good for him. "

Bucky also nodded. "Things have been pretty quiet lately. Not a lot going on with SHIELD or anything."

The room went quiet as Steve didn't respond. Bucky could tell by his eyes that he was thinking though.

That's all really Bucky could bear to look at for very long, was Steve's eyes. He didn't want to look at his arms or chest, poking out from beneath the white hospital sheets. There was sagging skin were he once had so much muscle. It brought back memories for Bucky of when Steve was so small and frail.

Steve hadn't gotten any smaller, but the signs of age were so evident on him, it made Bucky feel a little sick to look at him for too long.

"One day you should find yourself a girl, Buck."

Bucky sighed. They've had this conversation a hundred times. Steve didn't know that, though.

"Don't want a girl, Steve."

"Then you should find yourself a guy."

Yet another sigh escaped Bucky's lips. A couple of times while having this exact same discussion, right after Steve had said that infamous line, Bucky had told him. Bucky told him that he'd found a guy. He'd found the love of his life almost a hundred years ago. A tiny, sickly looking little Steve all beaten up and bruised, halfway passed out in an alleyway in Brooklyn.
He'd told him how he'd fallen in love with the blue in his eyes and the fight in his heart. He'd told him how he'd go on dates with girls because he couldn't stop staring at Steve from across their shared living room in their apartment and he couldn't stop himself from wanting to march over there and kiss him.

He told him all of that because he knew Steve would just forget. He always did.

Bucky would watch mixed emotions flicker across Steve's face- so many mixed emotions. He would always end up leaving the room and the hospital before Steve was ever able to even give a response.

By the time Bucky returned the next day, Steve didn't remember a word of the previous conversation.

Today, Bucky didn't feel like pouring his guts and feelings all over the floor just to try to pick them back up later with the help of some alcohol that barely affected him. So he simply nodded and said, "Yeah. Someday I might find a nice guy."

Steve seemed pleased with this response as he nodded and gave a small smile.

Bucky shifted in his chair uncomfortably. He searched for something to say. He decided to go with the line he said last week, that seemed to have made Steve pretty happy.

"I think I'm going to do some traveling this spring. We never did make it to the Grand Canyon, did we? I think I'll go there, and work my west maybe. Not upwards towards Montana or anything. I don't want to be anywhere cold."

He paused, and saw the grin on Steve's face.

"That sounds gre-" He was interrupted by his own coughing. He drew a weak arm up and coughed into his frail-looking elbow as Bucky waited.

"That's great, Buck." Steve finished hoarsely after he finished coughing.
"That's great."

Bucky tried to smile in response, but it came out more like a grimace. He did actually plan in doing some traveling, but not until he couldn't see Steve anymore.

The thought of Steve dying always hurt him worse than a punch to the gut. He knew it was going to happen someday. Just going this way, old and weak in a hospital bed, just seemed so ordinary, and Steve was anything but.

But after the life that Steve had lead, Bucky also thought that maybe the man deserved something ordinary for once.

Steve let out a yawn as Bucky studies the wrinkles on his face. He wanted to run his fingers across them.

"Well Buck, make sure you send me a postcard-" He paused to yawn again.
"from the Grand Canyon. Always wanted to see it...."

His eyes shut softly and his breathing became steady as Steve drifted off to sleep.

Bucky let out a little smile. He probably wouldn't wake back up for a few more hours until supper now. After standing up from his chair and pushing it away from the bed, he walked until he was standing over right where Steve laid.

He placed his left hand on Steve's shoulder, and with his other hand, he ran his fingers gently across the fine lines in Steve's face.
He'd done this dozens of times. He'd studied the fine little creases on either side of Steve's lips, and he'd memorized the patterns of the little wrinkles around his eyes. Those were his favorites. Out of all the permanent marks Steve had, Bucky loved his laughter lines the most.

"Yeah, I'll send you a postcard." Bucky said softly before placing a gentle kiss on Steve's sleeping face. He leaned away from his lifelong friends, and then headed out of the room, then the facility.

He'd be back tomorrow, as usual. He'd be back every single day until age finally took Steve from him.

A/N Hey look he finally actually published something, wow! Sorry if this is dumb and makes no sense, but I hope y'all enjoy. Thanks for reading :)