#but there's some whump and feels and fevery stuff

[whoareurl]

I’m stuck between 🎡 and ❗️for a miserably sniffly and sneezy Bucky.... so take your pick?

🎡 A and B are up in a ferris wheel at a carnival. B thinks A is shaking because they’re scared of heights, but wait why is A so warm for a cold night…

(this one was too cute omg. post!ws au where everybody’s chill)

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“Isn’t this thing older than the popsicle twins?” Tony asks, eyeing the Coney Island ferris wheel with some concern. 

“Aw, come on, Tony!” Clint laughs, jabbing him in the ribs with his elbow. “Unless you’re chicken?”

Clint proceeds, to precisely nobody’s surprise, to cluck like a chicken until Tony swats at him. Clint is far nimbler on his feet than Tony could ever be, however, and dances away from his hands with ease. 

Thor is also frowning up at the ferris wheel but for a different reason which soon becomes clear when he leans closer to Steve and says, “So, the wheel simply turns slowly? And this passes for amusement in Midgard?”

“Yeah, it’s mostly for kids,” Steve agrees, squinting up at the wheel himself since everybody else seems to be doing that. “But you can see for miles from the top.”

Thor breaks into a bright grin. “I do enjoy seeing things from a great height.”

Thor’s words give Steve pause and he turns back to look at Bucky who is continuously scanning the crowds around the fair. Before the war, Bucky wasn’t a fan of heights. The first time Sarah Rogers had taken the two of them on the Wonder Wheel, Bucky had held it together well until they were about three quarters of the way up before he’d started crying. It had been silent and utterly heartbreaking to watch and, even at nine years old, Steve felt a desperate ache in his chest - he couldn’t take Bucky’s fear away. It had been the first time he’d felt truly helpless. 

It’s not a memory Steve thinks about often. Honestly, there are so many worse memories which spring up unbidden at night that Steve supposes a trip to the fair probably wouldn’t make the cut of his Top Ten Worst Moments. Still, he’s thinking about it now. Logically, he knows that Bucky is probably over his fear by now. He hardly thinks Hydra would have catered to the Winter Soldier’s phobic tendencies. 

The line shuffles forward steadily until Clint, Natasha, and Tony crowd into a cabin and Thor, Jane, Darcy, and Bruce settle into the next. That leaves just the two of them. Steve smiles back at Bucky. 

“Ready?” He asks lightly. 

Bucky smiles back. It’s small and tight but it’s there. Steve takes Bucky’s gloved left hand and sits down so that their legs are presses together. 

“I remember Ma told me that my dad kissed her at the top of this thing once,” Steve says, speaking without really thinking as their cabin begins to climb. 

Bucky flashes him a crooked smile and mutters, “You tryn’a flirt with me, Rogers?”

Steve can’t help it; he blushes all the way down to his chest. Contrary to popular belief, Steve Rogers is not a bushing virgin but something about the way Bucky sweet-talks him has always tickled him pink, as it were. 

Now that they’re so close together, though, Steve frowns. Bucky is shaking. Barely, and it’s well-contained, but Steve can still feel it. 

“Okay?” Steve whispers even though there’s nobody else to hear him.

Bucky raises one eyebrow with such perfect nonchalance that Steve is instantly suspicious. “I can handle a ferris wheel, Steve,” he says, sounding bemused. Bemused and...nervous? His voice sounds hoarse with what Steve can only assume is anxiety.

“Not how I remember it, you can’t,” Steve shoots back playfully, refusing to go in for the kill straight away. Bucky has been making such good progress lately with asking for help and Steve wants to give him an opportunity to let him know what’s going on before he has to figure it out for himself. “Ma was ready to treat you for asthma that day.”

“So dramatic, punk,” Bucky smirks. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Was too,” Steve retorts childishly. 

As they climb closer to the peak of the wheel, a sharp evening breeze rushes through the bars of the cabin, making it swing in the wind. Bucky only shakes harder.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Steve says, winding an arm around the back of Bucky’s shoulders. “It’s just the wind. I won’t let you fall.”

Bucky tries for another casual roll of his eyes but Steve can’t help noticing that they look a little pink, like Bucky’s been crying or maybe about to start crying any second. 

“M’not scared,” Bucky mutters, sounding petulant. 

Steve sighs fondly, lovingly brushing Bucky’s hair away from his sweaty forehead. “It’s okay if you are, you kn-” But Steve stops dead. 

“You’re hot,” he says dumbly, already able to see Bucky’s response coming a mile away.

“Not too bad yourself, Rogers,” Bucky says, predictably. Steve almost mouths the line along with him, he’s heard it so many times before. 

“You know what I mean, Buck,” Steve mumbles, trying and failing to keep the sadness from entering his voice. 

Bucky notices, because of course he does. When it comes to Steve, Bucky notices everything. And, in a reversal of how this scene is supposed to be going, Bucky gently cups Steve’s face in his hands and runs his thumbs delicately over his cheekbones. 

“I’m sorry, babydoll,” Bucky whispers hoarsely and he sounds so sincere that Steve wants to cry. “I didn’t want to ruin everybody’s fun.”

Steve frowns. “But you could have told me.” He says, trying not to sound as pouty as he feels. 

“Didn’t want to ruin your fun either, baby,” Bucky amends, leaning forward to kiss the tip of Steve’s nose. 

Steve is quiet for a moment, trying to think of what to say. He doesn’t want to be upset with Bucky for not telling him, especially not when they’re going to be trapped in this tiny dangling cage for at least another two rounds of this thing. He super especially doesn’t want to be upset because Bucky had sounded so apologetic and sad (and the soft, loving hitch in his voice when he’d called Steve his babydoll was sending all kinds of shivers right through Steve’s body). 

So, Steve concedes. 

“I know,” he says, because he knows he’d have done the same stupid, stubborn thing. “But you gotta be honest with me about how you’re feeling starting now. You’re burning, Buck. You gotta feel awful.”

It takes a moment, but Bucky’s instinctive army posture finally starts to soften and he curls in close to Steve, resting his head on Steve’s shoulder. Steve tugs him in close, feeling his heart swell unexpectedly when he hears Bucky’s quiet, wet sniffles in his ear. This is Bucky trusting him, letting him in. 

Bucky sniffles and hitches his way through the next three turns of the wheel and lets himself be led out of the cabin when they reach the ground at last. The press of Bucky’s weight against him has Steve feeling more content than he thinks he ever has. 

“Next time,” Bucky rasps, making another shiver race through Steve which has nothing to do with the chill. “I’ll kiss you at the top of this damn wheel until you’re begging for me.”

Steve almost swallows his own tongue. 

“Hey, Grandpa and Cooler Grandpa!” Tony yells around an enormous stick of cotton candy. “Wanna ride the cyclone next?”

Steve and Bucky share a look.

“We’re gonna head back to the tower,” Steve says after a moment.

Tony gags. “You didn’t have a gross make out session up there, did you?” He asks, poking Bruce with the end of his cotton candy stick. “I told you you should have ridden with them. They need a minder.”

“Goodbye, Tony,” Steve says pointedly, shoving his and Bucky’s joined hands into his pocket.

“Use protection!” Yells Tony’s voice in the background followed by a yelp of pain. Steve hopes Natasha stepped on his foot.