Somebody loves you

Steve gently ran his hand through Bucky’s raven hair, his heart seized as his lover sobbed quietly into his chest. As much as the night terrors frightened and upset him, Steve was just happy to know that Bucky was there. He forgot his weariness when thrashing and bloodcurdling screams pierced his slumber and immediately reached over to awaken the man he loved.

“God, how do you put up with me-?” Bucky gasped, desperately clinging to Steve.
“Shhh, as long as you’re all right, I don’t care if I’m awake for a whole week…!” Steve crooned, “I’m not leaving you by yourself when you’re so upset.”
“I’m just weak, aren’t I…?” Bucky moaned wretchedly.
“No…! You’re not weak, Soldier…! You’ve been strong for too long…!” Steve kissed the cold sweat on the smaller man’s brow, “I’m here, and I’m never letting anybody hurt you again…!”

A wry smile crossed Bucky’s lips as he relaxed his tense muscles, “What did I ever do to deserve somebody as wonderful as you, Babe…?”
Steve cradled Bucky’s head against his shoulder, “You did the same for me… you were always patching me up after a fight… telling me how stupid I was not to back down…!”
Bucky sniggered, “You always were too stubborn to back down, Punk…!”
“Jerk~!” Steve playfully squeezed Bucky, “And for all that you’ve done for me, how can I give up on you? After I’ve worked so hard to break Hydra’s hold over you…? I’m with you to the end of the line…!”

Who's around when the days feel long
Who's around when you can't be strong
Who's around when you're losing your mind
Who cares that you get home safe
Who knows you can't be replaced
Who thinks that you're one of a kind

Steve could not even begin to believe his luck. Bucky was home and his memory returning. Steve did not even care about the sleepless nights. He preferred that to sleeping through the night by himself.
In fact, Steve wanted to demonstrate to everybody just how devoted that he was to Bucky and he could hardly contain his excitement.
“All right, I have the ring, now I just have to tell the rest of the Avengers and let them know that this is meant to be a surprise for Bucky…!

-----

Steve awakened to the first light of the sunrise and saw Bucky sleeping quietly, unlike how he had been just a few hours before. Steve could not help but adore the sight. Bucky, for all that he had suffered, still slept like he did when they were just kids, with the same expression and the same breathing patterns. He looked as lovable as ever… he looked so vulnerable now, without that cocky façade that he wore in public. Steve’s eyes watered as he smiled upon his sleeping lover with ineffable tenderness.
“You have no idea how happy you make me, Soldier…!” Steve thought fondly.

Somebody misses you when you're away
They wanna wake up with you everyday
Somebody wants to hear you say

Bucky moved through the day in the haze that still hung in his mind, but he knew that he was doing better than he was when Steve had first found him as the Winter Soldier. This new world was so bewildering to both him and Steve, but since they had reunited they at least had the comfort of holding onto each other. And it felt good that he wasn’t looking over his shoulder as often, relieved that he was surrounded by friendly faces.

Friendly faces. Bucky was still becoming acquainted with his new friends and coworkers, but he detected something strange, even for the situation in which he’d found himself, seventy-something years out of his time and after HYDRA had held him hostage. All of them seemed unusually happy around him lately, hardly like their usual selves. Not that Bucky was complaining. He was glad for a light atmosphere, but he was nonetheless a bit perturbed by their strangely chipper mood around him.

“Hey there, Buck, how’s everything?” Sam ambled up to him, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Fine, I guess…” Bucky answered, perplexed, “You’re in a good mood today, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, why shouldn’t I be?” Sam remarked, “I guess that some days are just like that.”

“They sure are~!” Natasha chimed in as she sauntered past, her usually monotone voice warbling merrily. Bucky did a double take. Natasha? Bucky was glad that they seemed happy, but everybody seemed especially happy around him lately. He’d seen Thor skipping after a very ebullient conversation with him. The god of thunder skipping??? What was going on?

Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you

Bucky sighed contentedly against Steve’s shoulder as they sat on the balcony of Stark Tower, watching the evening sky turn many colors.
“What is it, Soldier?” Steve turned toward his beloved.
“Just sighing, Babe,” Bucky answered languidly, “It’s not like I’m made of glass, Steve. You don’t have to worry about every little thing I do.”
Steve shook his head slightly, “You’re asking me to do the impossible, Bucky. How can I keep from worrying about you?”
Steve reflected on how shaken that Bucky was before he had regained his own mind. As much as it hurt Steve, Steve had taken his heart in his hands and visited Bucky’s cell daily to try to help the man he loved recover his memories.
Even when the Winter Soldier was the one who answered Steve, hints of Bucky were evident. As hesitant as the confused man was to accept Steve, he nonetheless seemed to recognize him. Steve just couldn’t leave him, not when he was just beginning to remember who he was, not when he was rediscovering himself in a strange world seven decades out of his own time. Steve was terribly shocked and confused when he awoke in 2011, by himself in a New York that was barely recognizable after he had quickly realized that the room where he awoke was third-rate disguise. He couldn’t let Bucky go through something like that, he didn’t want to jar his long-lost lover more than he’d already been shaken.
Months had passed and the difference was tremendous. Bucky no longer had the expression of a wild animal in a trap. Steve would never forget how Bucky ran to him when he’d finally recovered the memory of how much that they meant to each other, how he’d caught Bucky and twirled with him. Every day, Bucky seemed to improve more and more and Steve could not have been more grateful.

“Everybody ‘s nice and everything, Steve, but they’ve been so happy around me lately,” Bucky murmured, breaking Steve’s reverie they watched the sunset.

Steve chuckled a bit, “And how’s that a bad thing, Soldier?”

“Don’t get me wrong, Babe, it’s great that they’re nice to me, but it seems a bit strange that all of them are happy around me today,” Bucky continued, “Don’t you find it the least bit unusual?”

Steve didn’t answer. Bucky turned to see Steve gazing at him with a smile that made him weak in the knees.

“Steve? What is it, Babe?”

Steve gently took Bucky’s hands and dropped to one knee.

I'm around when your head is heavy
I'm around when your hands aren't steady
I'm around when your day's gone all wrong
I care that you feel at home
Cause I know that you feel alone
I think you're going to miss me when I'm gone

“Bucky, I just want you to know how happy that you’ve made me. While it breaks my heart that I wasn’t able to spare you from what you suffered from HYDRA, I can’t deny that it makes me love you all the more since I have so nearly lost you twice.”

Steve looked so vulnerable. While his face was beseeching, he wore a look of indescribable tenderness in the rosy evening light. A wave of realization swept through Bucky. Was Steve doing what he thought he was doing?

“James Buchanan Barnes… my Bucky… will you marry me?”

Steve produced a small case from his coat pocket, opening it to reveal a simple, but elegant, golden ring.

Bucky felt his legs buckling under him. Steve had just asked to marry him? He wanted to scream, “YES!!!!!!” with all of his being, but he could only manage a choked “Yes…!”

Somebody misses you when you're away
They wanna wake up with you everyday
Somebody wants to hear you say
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you

A broad smile broke Steve’s anxiously uncertain expression as he caught Bucky, who was red-faced but beaming.
“You can’t begin to imagine how happy you’ve made me, Soldier…!” Steve gasped.
“How happy I’ve made you?!?” Bucky practically squeaked, “You’ve asked me the question I’ve wanted to ask you since we were sixteen…!”
“CONGRATULATIONS, YOU TWO!!!!!” The rest of the Avengers suddenly mobbed them with champagne.
“It’s about time you made honest men of each other!” Tony said dryly.
Bucky was astonished, “All of you knew about this?”
Natasha beamed in a rare smile, “And you couldn’t figure out why we’ve been so happy lately?”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“Why do you think that Thor, the god of thunder, was skipping?” Sam quipped.
Thor blushed, “Why should I be compelled to contain such joy?
Pepper embraced the newly-engaged couple, “Thor’s right. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am!!!”
“What about the ring? How does it fit?” Bruce interjected.
Steve quickly plucked the ring out and placed it onto Bucky’s right ring finger. It slid on like a charm.
“It’s perfect…!” Bucky gasped, tears blurring his vision as he and Steve threw their arms around each other, sharing a hearty kiss.
They were brought to their senses when Clint and Tony sprayed them with champagne.

Why don't you come on over
Why don't you lay me down
Does the pain feel better
When I'm around
If I am good to you
Won't you be good to me
That's how easy this should be

The park was alive with activity; SHIELD agents barred the press from the ceremony that had all of the United States talking. Captain America was marrying the former Winter Soldier, his rehabilitated childhood sweetheart.

The family by association that Steve and Bucky had formed was aglow in their seats as they watched the ceremony. Before an equally overcome minister, Steve and Bucky stood handsomely dressed in their military uniforms, their hands laced in anxious joy.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes…!”

Steve and Bucky had sworn that they would be strong, that they would not break down completely, although the sheer volume of the emotions that were swelling within them was proving to be a massive test. Their hands squeezed each other as the grooms gazed euphorically into each other’s faces.

Somebody misses you when you're away (Somebody misses you baby)
They wanna wake up with you everyday (They wanna wake up with you)
Somebody wants to hear you say (Oh they want you to say)

“Steve… we have both been through more in less than three decades of life than most people face in a lifetime… I have been mangled into somebody else, brainwashed, my memories erased…” Bucky drew a shuddering breath to steady himself as he saw tears course through the creases of Steve’s smile, “And even when I thought that I was beyond redemption, you were still there. You showed me that you still believed in me… you have fought with me and for me in a long struggle to bring me back to myself… how can anybody say ‘thank you’ for all the love that you’ve shown me…?”

Bucky shuddered, trying to stifle sobs as Steve squeezed his hands reassuringly, “You have risked your life for me multiple times; I could not be more convinced that you love me, and I only want to be able to repay you all the love that you’ve given to me not just since you brought me home but since we were just sixteen…! I am fully prepared and more than willing to do so…!”

“Bucky,” Steve’s voice was just as husky as Bucky’s voice, “You are the reason that I became who I am now; I have been willing to submit to experiments and to the brutalities of war because I could not and cannot bear the idea of living a day without you. You are the reason that the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Howling Commandoes are here; I was all the more determined to save our comrades when I heard that you were among the captured… I have almost lost you twice and I love you all the more as a result…! If you say that you are as willing as I am to repay all the love that we have given to each other, I can’t think of anything that I would rather do… as much as it hurts to remember what you’ve suffered, the fact that we’re here now is definitely worth all the pain…! If it takes me several lifetimes to show you how much I love you, let it be the case…!”

The exchange of rings felt so surreal to them yet so thrilling. They were truly doing this. It wasn’t a dream. And their friends were before them, silently cheering for them.

“By the power invested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you spouses for life-! You may kiss your husband-!”

The announcement and the applause sounded far away as Steve and Bucky embraced with an eager kiss. Bucky’s knees trembled, but Steve held strong. They had arrived. They finally had what they never thought they could have. For all the trials that the two men had endured, it all seemed worth it.

Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you
Ooh somebody loves you