Work Text:
“Please someone remind me why I have to do this...”
That’s the first thing Bucky mutters after he enters the flat. The following sounds are shoes being thrown in a random direction combined with a deep long sigh.
“I thought this was a temporary situation,” he continues.
Bucky walks over to the ratty couch in the sparsely decorated living room and flops down face first. His lid-length hair is spreading all around him like a halo.
“At least we’re in the same boat.” Zemo replies a second later. “But yeah, this is definitely not what I imagined ‘freedom’ to be like.”
“Yeah, but your situation at least improved. Your short-lived freedom a year ago, cost me mine. Fucking governmental pardon contract,” Bucky grumbles into the cushions. It’s however not laced with real spite behind it. He turns around.
“I try to do the right thing and stop the Flagsmashers... And where do I end up? In this shithole of an apartment with an awful office job, because I can’t be trusted with field work anymore. Thanks.”
“I thank you for your sacrifice, James. But look at it from this angle. You get to live with me in this shithole of an apartment and have an awful office job.”
Bucky snorts as a reply.
“Right. Because I definitely asked for this. This totally didn’t get forced on me because they thought that no one else could handle you, with Sam busy and all. I mean I agree, I wouldn’t trust you to not run away as well.”
“Haven’t run away – again – so far!” Zemo protests like it is an achievement worth acknowledging and not just him following a basic rule.
Standing up, Bucky walks over to the kitchen and opens a cabinet and grabs a glass. The cabinet won’t close properly. He fills the glass at the tap with probably not safe-for-human-consumption water. Eh, can’t hurt a super soldier.
The kitchen chair creaks when Bucky settles down.
He just wants to grab some food, gulp it down and sleep to give this awful day an official finish.
Zemo, as he usually does, interrupts this simple plan. His magical people reading skills apparently make him see Bucky’s mood, based on how he eats.
“What got you so worked up, that you are almost bending this poor spoon? Surely it isn’t Ross telling you that our time together has been extended.”
“Of course, it is, asshole. I already barely get any sleep and this office job, doesn’t help. Completely fucks up my barely existent rhythm with tasks due at ungodly hours. And now I need to do this for minimum another 6 months.” Bucky complains and rubs his hands across his forehead.
He doesn’t know how Zemo is coping so well. He also has awful work hours and gets treated like shitty employee and not trained combatants and agents. Perhaps he just accepts his fate or is used to monotony because of prison.
Nowadays, Bucky feels like he is now the one trapped. Day in and day out he does the same things. Stare at screens and complain about whatever it is that is annoying him currently. Not a single day that is a net positive. It is slowly draining him out of vitality.
Even with Hydra – the worst time of his life – he at least could say that he did do something. It certainly wasn’t good, but it was productive nonetheless.
But this. This is just a waste of a capable human. Two capable humans.
“They should at least compensate us for the extended time we have to do this job,” Zemo declares out of the blue.
“Compensate, as in make life less awful? How are they supposed to do that, huh?” Bucky huffs.
“How about new furniture, since we will be staying here longer. A new bed perhaps? A bed you would actually use. If we’re at it, I want a new couch to ‘celebrate’ the extension of our current work contract.”
“And you think they will do that? They don’t give a shit about our situation.”
“Then we will do it ourselves!” Zemo says way too gleefully for the bad mood Bucky is in.
*
“Do you want Nisse chairs or Bergmund chairs, James?”
“I don’t care, as long we have a way of eating at a table and have chairs that aren’t about to collapse whenever I try to sit down.” The options are overwhelming him, the more he stares at the screen.
“I get that you want nice furniture, but I am used to very few. I only need stuff to be functional,” he explains after having looked through the catalogue with Zemo for ages.
Who knew that making an apartment livable was such a long task.
Bucky decides to just simply retreat to his room and let’s Zemo handle the rest. The guy is style incarnate. He doesn’t need his clumsily offered help.
He settles onto the hard ground and stares at the blank ceiling. Hoping that sleep will take him, despite the low chances.
“JESUS CHRIST. How much did you buy? This apartment isn’t that big. We are both working long hours. When do you plan to build these?” Bucky exclaims a couple days later after seeing the big stack of boxes now occupying the living room.
“Hadn’t thought that far honestly,” Zemo replies nonchalantly.
That evening, Bucky wants to let him suffer alone with his over-eager decision. So, he just sits on the couch and observes Zemo’s struggles with Ikea. Just relaxing with a gleeful smirk.
But when Zemo’s two hands aren’t enough, no matter how much he furiously flips and turns the current piece, he sighs and struts over to Bucky. Bucky caves in and reluctantly agrees to help out.
He ties his hair up in a messy bun and sets to work. It’s been a while since he got to use his logical thinking brain – Ross' tasks just kill all his neurons – and be active in that way.
To his surprise he quickly becomes fond of the construction of the items. The feel of the heavy materials and smell of the wood wafting through the air makes it worth it.
By the end of their record time assembly, they got genuine smiles on their faces. So much more furniture fills the rooms, so much more personality in this apartment.
The atmosphere is so different, now that they have a comfy dark blue couch, shelves they can fill with books and trinkets. Little decorative pieces adorn every surface. A stylish, but minimalist lamp now lights up the living room.
This should make life more bearable.
Bucky never expected that he could live in an objectively nice home. All he has known for the past decade is undecorated walls and floors. Only objects in his vicinity were of practical nature.
No pieces, just because they looked nice.
It is that night in the new way too soft bed that thoughts start to spiral like the often do:
He isn’t sure how he feels about it all.
Will he even use the furniture like one is meant to do? Will he relax on the couch for extended periods of time?
Does he even deserve the comfort?
With the number of atrocities, he has committed, does he even deserve to be able to settle down? How is Zemo able to enjoy this luxury, even though he has a horrible past behind him as well?
He will just have to maneuver his way through the changes.
*
A couple weeks later on another morning, Bucky gets up from his bed to freshen up. The room just begins to brighten. The sun is starting to weaken; Winter is settling in.
By now, his room finally feels like his own and he does actually sleep in his bed – at least most days. His closet and cabinets are filled with his few personal belongings.
Despite that, the rest of the apartment still feels like an unrealistic dream. Loads of people would feel jealous of the nice furniture and welcoming space, but it simply doesn’t feel like Bucky’s space.
He doesn’t feel the ease of sinking into his couch. He is always tense. Nothing keeping him grounded.
Something is still missing.
Thinking back to his mother’s house; The magical essence, the sense of life is missing.
The apartment feels so stale. Decorated, but not lively. Zemo also leaves little room for imperfections, that would give such an impression of lived in.
He still feels like a guest in someone else's area. He is Zemo’s equal, Zemo’s roommate.
Then why does he still feel like a ghost.
For days he’s been trying to figure out what it is he feels. And only now does he have the words to describe it.
Loneliness, despite not being alone.
When his problem-solving brain leads him nowhere, he decides to just ask Zemo.
“Maybe you should have helped with the process of buying furniture. No wonder you feel like a guest, when you didn’t include your ideas and wishes.” Zemo guesses. “Maybe you should start to decorate some as well.”
“I don’t want more material goods. I just want my brain to calm the fuck down and let me rest. I am over 100 years old, and I barely had a calm second in those years since I was 20.” Bucky replies angrily, but contemplates further. “I guess Wakanda and the animals there were calm.”
“Hmm and why do you think was that, James?” Zemo questions.
“Well, I had no job, first and foremost and I don’t know the animals just refocus all my attention to them, I suppose. No real opportunities to fuss about life then.”
“Sounds like you just need a pet. Sometimes it’s easier to care for others, than to care for yourself. They are proven to help with emotional processing.”
*
“How are we supposed to decide which cat to adopt??” Bucky asks the clerk.
He simply gets the answer that usually the personality should match.
They both then think about how they would be like, were they cats. Bucky would definitely be a grumpy cat. Zemo possibly a beautiful drama-queen-esque cat. No, he doesn’t think Zemo is beautiful.
But their combining trait is a love for danger and excitement. A feisty cat would fit them. Absolutely needs to be cuddly though.
They slowly start to whittle down their options until they are left with two.
“Well, we got those left,” the clerk says showing off a white cat who clearly didn’t like being picked up and a striped orange, slightly larger cat. They were both feisty, like Zemo and Bucky.
“Look at this little fella. As dramatic as your coat. White and fancy.”
It’s the obvious answer, honestly.
Back home they got her out of the transport box and then left her to do her own thing.
Explore the area and find the best hiding spots. Immediately scratch the new couch and throw a cup or two off the table. Typical cat stuff.
Bucky and Zemo expected her to be a lot more tentative in this new environment, but no this monster is up to shenanigans just a couple minutes after arriving. Thinking about it, they would do the same thing in a new environment too, whenever they are on a mission.
It’s also how Zemo behaved back in Madripoor. As soon as he was let out of his prison – that one being made of metal and underwater instead of plastic – he also went feral and did as much stupid stuff as possible.
The next day, they decide to give their new resident a nice bath to get rid of the real grime as well as the figurative grime of shelter life.
They prepare the bathtub with a big towel and slowly set her in. As expected, she already knows what is about to happen and tries to jump out, but a strong metal hand reacts quickly and keeps her down. A loving squish is all that is needed to keep her from escaping violently.
“Good protection against scratches, who would’ve thought,“ Bucky says after a quick chuckle.
She starts to calm down and the atmosphere turns into a mellow one with the scent of the gentle soap filling up the room.
With the new cat-restraining-technique they make quick work of the process, not wanting to stretch it out too long.
When the final dirt is rinsed off, her fur is almost blindingly white. So much beauty hidden behind life in awful institutions and life on the streets.
“White like snow. Incredible. As beautiful as the alpine mountains,” Zemo mumbles to himself and then turns to Bucky. His face is lit up with a revelation.
“Alpine.”
That’s the point where Bucky catches his train of thought and gives a quick confirmation that the name is in fact is super fitting.
*
Life quickly settles for the three of them. Getting used to another human being in your personal space is a lot harder than a pet it turns out.
No flashing from half open bathrobes or excessive tea consumption. Just a fluffy, cuddly and slightly needy cat.
Bucky has slowly fallen into a routine with her.
On weekends when he has more time, he would wake up – often without nightmares nowadays – and get her some breakfast. Then he would start to shower, wincing at the mewls from outside the door. Alpine seemingly cannot bear a second without her grumpy human.
She is quite two faced. Super cuddly, but feisty in the sense of always getting what she wants.
Next up he would start to get breakfast for himself, push her off the table – you had food 20 minutes ago – and actually eat himself. All before the Baron would even leave his room.
The best part so far with her are the long cuddles on the couch.
Whenever life is too much and thoughts keep spiraling, Alpine is always there. Always there to ground him with slow but intense purrs.
It has been so long since he got proper affection. All of hers now feels super comforting.
Sometimes Bucky thinks that he truly might have lost all of his humanity and empathy, but in reality, he just needed a different environment with no judgement.
Occasionally, when Zemo and Alpine were snuggling, he would even join in. Sitting on the couch as well, letting the day come to a slow conclusion. Just a year ago, such a scene would have seemed ridiculous and unattainable for him, but now it luckily is a common thing.
Other times, when work wasn’t draining all their spare time and they were told to just wait up until they get given a task again, they would use their weekends for some fun stuff.
Alpine looks down from her a place atop the cabinets – who knows how she gets up there. Zemo and Bucky seem to be getting their hands dirty baking cookies.
Simple cookies so they can decorate them later.
Zemo is finishing kneading the dough and Bucky is already getting all the stuff they need for decorating. Sparkly pearls, sprinkles, food dye, fondant, cookie-cutters, a knife, and so on.
Dough rolled out; They start to let their creativity flow.
Moons, pine trees and little stars are the forms they stencil out. But Bucky also cuts out some extra forms by hand. He uses his knife skills to carve a few cats. They look frankly adorable.
After baking, when they begin to decorate the clean slates, they get a curious guest at the table. Alpine has moved closer towards them. The sweet smell must be new and appealing to her. She also likes to spend time with them
Chaotic colourful cookies is what they end up with. The two of them take a couple cookies each and sit down at the kitchen table. They give Alpine a special cat-cookie and then start munching on the cookies.
Well worth the effort.
*
A week later, after a stressful workday Bucky comes home and he sees something absolutely adorable. Zemo had left work earlier than him and seemingly used that extra time to nestle into the couch. And promptly fell asleep.
This time however, Alpine decided to join him, as in right on top of him. So close to his face that Zemo might practically be suffocating already.
Bucky proceeds to just stare at them for a bit. Such a domestic sight, that luckily happens more often nowadays. But it’s weird how it all came to this. That they have a nice apartment, a cuddly cat and of course that they are living together in the first place. But Bucky couldn’t image it any other way now.
Bucky takes the liberty to grab the big blanket and wrap it around Zemo. It’s an entirely selfish action since only Bucky benefits from the view, but Zemo will probably be grateful.
After an hour, Zemo waltzes over into the kitchen after waking up from his nap. Bucky tried to be quiet while preparing dinner, but apparently it wasn’t enough. Luckily his roommate doesn’t complain about the noise.
Bucky is practically done, so he begins to set the plates and pots on the table. He made a lovely, hearty soup – a dish he perfected decades ago.
The delicious smell attracts Alpine, so she promptly jumps onto the table. They could never make her unlearn that. Carefully with her kitty-smirk in place she begins to sneak over to the filled pot, pretending to not have any malicious intent. Bucky and Zemo just watch her slowly approach until she is almost at the pot. Only then does Zemo shoo her away.
“Such a rascal. Thinks she can do whatever,“ he says fondly.
“I am sure she got it from you. You also do what you want. I mean look at you. Your smirk even is like hers.”
“It is not!” Zemo denies. Internally he knows though, that he already lost.
“Right... Imagine you did something sneaky.”
It takes a moment, but as soon as the Baron’s imagination kicks in, one can tell he is scheming something, and his facial expression turns into a cheeky smirk.
“There it is!” Bucky announces triumphantly. “Baron Mr. Kittyclaws,” he mutters with a chuckle.
Offended, Zemo just proceeds to eat the nice meal.
*
Life has been going so well with their domestic squabbles that it has become their new normal by now. Everything has been so stable.
But it’s when Bucky returns from his before-sunrise jog that he ventures into the kitchen, to give Alpine her food, that there is no elegant meowing greeting him, but just a faint snoring from the still asleep Baron.
It’s then that he begins to look for their little kitty. It’s not super unusual for her to hide away a bit or be dead asleep, but usually she is at one of her main spots: The couch, next to the radiator, in the center of Bucky’s bed – taking up all the space, like the queen she is – or hiding in one of the left-over cartons.
After checking all these spots and even waking up Zemo for extra search power, together they come up with only one possible conclusion.
“Alpine must have been eaten by space monster in the middle of the night!”
“Alpine must have escaped and ran away!” They shout at the same time.
“I bet you left the door open after getting your deliveries yesterday,” Bucky accuses. “I see Alpine looking out longingly every time the door is open.”
“And who says that it wasn’t your frustrated jog this morning that gave her the opportunity to scutter off?” Zemo rebuttals.
“Whatever it was, she is now alone in the cold December air.”
Bucky considers his options for the next few moments. “We got a little while before we have to be in work! We can quickly make posters and hang them up!”
All wrapped up in coats, scarves and fluffy hats, they venture out, to stick their posters to any surface they can find in the nearby vicinity.
The posters are absolutely ridiculous. Bucky had to convince Zemo to not give out half his wealth for the reward. While he agrees that Alpine is worth that much, people will just assume it is a fake poster and not even bother looking.
An hour later when they step back into the apartment, the reality finally hits.
The two of them often work from home. Meaning Alpine is used to someone always being present. That’s why she is usually so clingy, when they come home from a day outside.
But now, there is just silence. No clatter from the living room followed by loud footsteps until she stands before them in her white glory, looking up at them expecting cuddles for her lonesome troubles.
No, it won’t be like that until she is back in their arms.
“I hope we get her back soon,” Zemo mumbles into the empty feeling room.
They then proceed to grab their bags for work and head off.
During work they constantly check their phone if they perhaps missed a call.
While going home, they circle their immediate area before going into their apartment, but to no avail. It’s already late and super dark, so there wasn’t much chance anyway.
In bed, Bucky feels the difference. He still has trouble falling asleep, but her warmth, purring and light weight helped tremendously on hard nights. Now he just lays awake, stares at the ceiling or keeps tossing and turning around.
By the time morning rolls around, he isn’t sure if he even fell asleep at all. Regardless another workday awaits. Only 3 more days and then the holidays are finally his.
Like on Autopilot, he stands up, gets dressed, tumbles into the kitchen to get another batch of food for Alpine. Only when dropping down to fill the bowl, does he remember. His heart skips a beat. So many reminders all around, that their beloved cat is yet to be found.
It has only been a couple months, but she has gotten integrated so tightly into their life, that even a day without her is lacking a lot of joy. Everything feels out of order and dull.
Wednesdays are early shift days at SHIELD, meaning he has to go straight to the office and can’t do another perimeter search, looking for her traces.
He is very unproductive at work that day. His leg is jittering, and he is visibly uneasy, beyond his regular tenseness™. Whenever another agent wants to clear something up, they immediately feel the bad vibes and leave the room as soon as they can.
Whenever there is slow moment, Bucky seizes it to think about where Alpine might’ve gone.
Having completed a fraction of his usual work, he is heading home to meet with his roommate to find their floof-ball.
Together they set out again, checking all the spots that they thought would be a possibility, but it’s all in vain. Discouraged they go home again.
“She might’ve gone miles away by now. How will we ever find her?” Zemo questions with his head dropped into his palms at the dinner table. They both aren’t particularly hungry, too exhausted from the slow rising panic.
It feels impossible to stay calm with their worries surrounding them constantly. What if Alpine will never find her way back? She is a smart cat, but the city is huge – she could be anywhere by now.
They don’t even want to think about what they would do if they were to lose her permanently.
They see that she helped their emotional state a lot, so would they get a new cat so soon and try to hide the pain of a lost friend. Or would they sort of fall into a grieving, depressive episode. Perhaps all the bad feelings would come back.
They can’t possibly risk that. Seems they just have to step up their searching game.
*
The following evening, they design the plan:
- Hack into local CCTV cameras
- Trace her steps
- Hopefully find her
They absolutely would break all the laws in the world for this mission. Zemo already promised large sums of money, so illegal activities is the next logical step. They both have enough practice to easily do it.
They start at the supermarket across their street. Maybe they could see a white fleck move about in the night she escaped. Positive effect of having a snow-white cat. You can spot her even in the dimmest situations.
And yes, they do. 01:17 on the 20th they notice some movement. They see a curious cat wander out of the path leading to the house’s courtyard. She looks around, but then just waltzes out of there.
The roads are empty that night, so she walks along them, without cars or other people disturbing her. After leaving the field of view of the camera, they shut off the feed.
They now gathered, that yes, she didn’t get eaten by a monster that night – Bucky wasn’t 100% convinced until now – and that she started to go eastwards.
They spend pretty much the whole night hacking into the next best surveillance gear and step by step reconstructing her path.
It’s just that they spent 4 hours to piece the path together she crossed in 20 minutes.
They need a new strategy.
What if they try to check feeds all over the place and try to find a common ground where she seemingly spends most of her time.
That’s what they try early on the 23rd. They purposefully called in sick to give them more time. Everyone knows that they aren’t sick, but no one called them out on their bullshit. They know not to get in the way of a super soldier and an ex-terrorist.
They check cameras from public transport, office buildings and everything they could find to sort of triangulate an area where she often seems to spend time or crosses through frequently. Definitely a better idea than tracing her step by step.
Hours later they have found a few places where they spotted her.
In true spy fashion, they get themselves a map and pinpoint all the locations. They do in fact all seem close together. That means Alpine doesn’t just walk further and further away, but rather stays close to what seems familiar. Smart kitty.
And that place seems to be the park that’s nearby. They did a quick check but didn’t properly look. They consider getting their flashlights and get out there, but tracing her steps seems extra hard in the dark, so they decide to wake up early tomorrow and go push the mission through and truly find her.
It snowed a lot last night, so they have to find her now, or it might be really bad for Alpine.
They are wrapped in warm clothes, heavy snow boots and got some treats and a blanket packed for the mission.
Usually they would pack knives, guns and wear really sleek clothes, but today’s mission requires different tools. Extraction-of-target missions need to be extra organized and planned through lest the target escapes and has to be found again.
They move out and arrive within minutes at the park. First step is to find any signs of recent activity. Be it a deceased bird or little footprints. And with luck finally on their side, they do find some prints.
“Look! Little cat prints, Zemo!” Bucky calls over after they split up to cover more ground. Zemo jogs over in an excitedly manner.
“Those are fox prints...” Zemo replies annoyed as soon as he took a closer look.
“And how do you know?! I was the Winter Soldier, remember?”
“Yes, and I used to hunt as a child once a month. Those are fox prints. Keep looking. I believe you will find it.”
Bucky just grumbles in response.
20 minutes later they find a new track and follow it to a half-collapsed tree. They are fresh prints, perhaps an hour old. Time to find out if it is who they hope it is. They whistle to get the attention of the cat that hopefully still is in there. At least the trunk seems to be a safe enough space.
With no reaction yet, they whistle again, which does get someone's attention.
A cat steps out carefully to investigate the noise. Zemo and Bucky get excited over the sign of life.
But it isn’t Alpine.
The cat is grey, striped, and quite a bit larger than their Alpine.
They are disappointed but give the stray cat a treat regardless.
It’s then that another cat shows up, that seemed to stay behind in the trunk – how did they both even fit in there – and it’s a muddy off-white one.
At a closer look they see that it is indeed their beloved Alpine, just excessively dirty.
They wish they could jump up and run around in excitement, but that would spook the two, so they just joyfully glare at each other and begin to carefully approach the two cats.
Bucky spreads the blanket and drops some more treats on it. Alpine like the brave queen she is begins to walk over. She obviously remembers her two owners – despite being wrapped in loads of unrevealing clothes.
When she is in the middle of the blanket, Bucky quickly wraps her up so she forms a “Blanket-Burrito” and so she can no longer escape. She protests the rough handling, but a transport case would have been a lot worse.
Quickly they rush back home with their precious cargo and get her inside. There they finally give out a sigh of relief. It has been so many days of worrying, but she is finally back home.
Immediately she gets smothered by affection. All the treats and snuggles she could ever dream off.
Next up, they wash her again, they can’t have the filth of the street coat their baby no longer. Like the dirt slowly sloshing away, the anxiety drifts away.
Bucky has spent enough time on the cold streets, to know how much of a relief a good bath is. Seemingly Alpine agrees because she is a lot less fussy about the procedure than the first time. Slowly the beautiful, white fur becomes visible again.
Cold from the remaining dampness, she snuggles up to them on the couch. The ambience has drastically calmed. It will get dark and gloomy soon, but at least they can enjoy being reunited again.
“I think we deserve a proper nice and fancy Christmas dinner now,” Bucky states out of the blue.
*
“Perfect,” he mutters with his mouth full of delightful food. The delicious hearty smell wafts through the air. Together they enjoy their pizza, still wrapped up in blankets, the cartons resting on their laps. Alpine is currently on the floor munching on some fish filet they got for her. “Best fancy dinner I had in a while.” Bucky grins contentedly at Zemo.
None of them want to separate to their own rooms and potentially not get to have a fluffy bed companion that night. That’s why they decide to sleep on the couch. They got ready for sleeping, spread a heavier and warmer blanket on the couch and settle in.
They are awkwardly spread out around Alpine, who has claimed the very center, but nothing could foul their good mood now. The lights have been turned off so only the faint orange of the streetlamps illuminates the living room.
Zemo snuggles closer, lays a hand on Bucky’s thigh and sighs happily. He smiles softly at Bucky.
“I’m glad we finally found a proper use of our skills. We work well together.”
The next morning, Bucky is the first to wake up. Zemo is still deep in sleep and snoring gently. The sun is casting some rays on Zemo’s face.
Bucky thinks about yesterday. He had felt so lost without Alpine. He is so glad to have her in his life. She is one source of happiness in his life now.
Looking over Zemo’s sleeping form, he realizes that there is a second now. He probably would freak out if he lost him as well. While he is an annoying bastard now and then, he no longer can imagine a life without him.
We work well together.
The statement suddenly plops into his head again. He agrees. They work so well together that you can no longer separate them. And isn’t that an interesting conclusion.
As if Zemo could hear the racing of Bucky’s thoughts, he starts to stir in his sleep until he turns to face him. “Morning, James.” Is the first thing he says with his still sleepy voice.
“Morning.” Bucky replies in a curt manner.
“You seem to think hard about something. Penny for your thoughts?”
“You know this is hard for me, but I will try.” He shuffles around so he can face Zemo some more.
“I - I was just thinking about – about how hard it has been the few days we lost Alpine. And that got me thinking what would happen if I would lose you.”
“You’ll never lose me, James. I’ll always be right next to you, pushing your buttons.”
“That’s exactly what I realized too. Think about it. There – There is no one that knows how to drive me up a wall or calm me down, like you do. No one.” Bucky continues while gazing deeply in the other’s eyes. He usually has his cyborg stare, but now it is quite different and softer. “There is no one, arghh, no one that understands me like you do.”
Zemo then reaches forward and rests his palm on Bucky’s cheek and gently moves his thumb back and forth. How grateful he is that Bucky has gotten a lot more comfortable with physical touch over the past months – otherwise his fingers would be long broken by now.
“I - I think...“
“You don’t need to say more if it is that hard. I have spent so much time with you. I can understand just fine from your gaze,” Zemo interrupts Bucky’s frantic search for the right words. “Me too, darling.”
Stumped, Bucky barely recognizes what happens before Zemo already leans in. He proves that he truly does understand what Bucky wanted to say. Gently, Zemo lets their lips touch and waits for Bucky to do the final step – waits for him to accept the truth.
Bucky drags Zemo further towards him and gives in. Their lips lock and they are finally kissing. Slowly, they have come to what was always meant to be between them. They get lost in the feel of each other.
Limbs entangled and breaths shared they realize that this is the best Christmas present they could have ever gotten.