In All Our Years Series - 4 In 1 | Captain!Bucky, WinterSoldier!Steve | Stucky

1980

| 1981 |

Bucky walked along a busy German street, his purple and green scarf pulled up over his nose. He carried his duffle bag, his gloved hand around the wide, flat strap, the weight a grounding against the side of his thigh.

He had learned a lot of German while he was drafted, especially while he was held in Azzano. He could understand some of the phrases that met his ears, but mostly the sounds around him were just mindless chatter, conversations weaving into other ones. Part of him did miss America, but a great part of him didn't. He was more free now than he had ever been before, now that he didn't have the shield weighing him down.

He found Howard Stark at the bar he had been told to find, sitting in a two-sided corner booth. Bucky slid into the seat behind him, unbuttoning his old pea coat and unwinding his scarf. The heat in the dive was from the movement of the crowd, and he had to appear normal. If he hadn't, he would've kept his coat on. He was always cold. He murmured, "How did you know where I was?" pulling the menu out from behind the sugar packets and seasonings. He cracked it open, dragging his eyes over the German orders.

"I might've sicced Tony on Grant."

He huffed, his bangs flopping over his forehead. He reached up to push them back. "Of course you did. What do you want?"

"I need your help."

He shook his head, an instinct. He knew that he shouldn't, that, either way, Howard couldn't see him. "No, Howard. I can't."

"It's just a HYDRA cell -"

"I don't do that anymore. It's not my problem."

He continued his point, attempting to convince Bucky; "We don't know if the Winter Soldier will be there, but you're the best manpower we have besides Grant -"

"You wouldn't dare," he grumbled, teeth suddenly clenched. Did Howard just come to tell him that S.H.I.E.L.D. would be throwing his son into the dangerous hands of the Winter Soldier? Because if he thought that would inspire him to help, he was wrong. It would only anger him further.

"I was going to say, we don't want to have to do that. Your kid's not scared of too much, but he refuses to go near the Soldier."

He propped his elbows up on the table, scanning his eyes over the stuffed heads that covered the walls. He felt the sudden need to paste googly eyes over the glazed over ones. "I don't know what else you want me to say."

"How about a 'goodbye'?" he snapped, losing the easy, borderline desperate tone he had been sporting. "You just up and left. No warning, no goodbye, nothing."

He grunted, getting out of his seat and circling around into Howard's booth. He set his elbows back up on the table, leaning forward. "I couldn't be there anymore. I had to do something. I felt like I was stuck. I had to make a change in my life."

His brows drew together. "You could have told us, you know." He gestured wildly between them, for no rhyme or reason. "You're the one who chose to bottle it all up, just like you're the one who chose to leave."

He scoffed, letting out a loose, humorless laugh. "You know I didn't. Peggy wanted me gone, I wanted to go, so I went."

"I thought we were friends!"

He scoffed, amused by the idea. He smiled, a sick sweetness coating his expression. "You lost my friendship when I found Tony with a handprint around his wrist and Maria burst into tears when I asked her why her throat was bruised." Bucky pushed himself from the booth, striding to the door. He left Howard behind; hopefully for good.

| 1982 |

The cherrywood door towering in front of him opened, and Bucky immediately sighed in relief. He was enveloped into warm, welcoming arms - he wasn't sure how long it had been since he was last hugged. It might've been Bee, on the last birthday of hers he'd been able to weasel his way into. Maybe Grant. Maybe Ellie, or even her cat Bluebell. Whatever it had been, it had been too long sense. He melted into the curve of Falsworth's embrace, his chin dropping down into his domesticity-and-age-softened shoulder.