It was almost as though the last eighty odd years hadn't happened. He and Bucky had almost identical dynamics to those they had before the war. The only difference was that now they were under no threat of prosecution, they fucked like rabbits.

They didn't attempt to hide it. They didn't even attempt to be quiet. And they certainly didn't attempt to keep it to their room. The elevator. The Jacuzzi. Any and all walls. Nowhere was safe. They even took to the occasional retaliatory fuck on bonnets of Tony's fancy cars when he annoyed them. They made sure to pick a different one each time, aiming to go through each of them.

-XOX-

When asked afterwards, the last thing Bucky could remember was getting punched in the face. From what he could feel afterwards, he could tell his injuries had been far worse than that. It was a fairly routine mission. As usual, Bucky was crouched with his sniper rifle behind an open window not far from the target. As things got intense inside, two brutish men were dispatched to take care of the sniper and archer who were picking off their men. Clint had gone out cold with a single blow from behind. Bucky was not so easy to take down. The two juggernauts laid into him, kicking and hitting until he lay unmoving on the floor.

After everyone had been apprehended, and while the avengers were still high on adrenaline, Steve teased into his comm.

"Celebratory fuck, Buck?" The others groaned at his frankness, but other than that he received no reply. Steve grew uneasy.

"Buck?!"

His stomach dropped in fear, and it was worse than anything he had felt that century. He shared a worried glance with Natasha before the two made haste towards the abandoned building across the street. Pausing to listen for noises, Steve rounded the corner and let out a broken gasp.

The jest ride back was tense and silent save for Clint slurring something about cognitive recalibration as he slowly came around. Bruce was alerted to prepare the med bay in the tower and meet them there. It was the longest twenty minutes of Steve's life.

Steve hated the waiting. He hated the not knowing. And he especially hated not being allowed into the med bay while Bruce, Tony and a vast array of robots worked on his friend. They were probably keeping him sedated in there. Bucky hated being sedated; it reminded him of his time doped up as the Winter Soldier. They haven't made it this far only for Steve to lose Bucky again.

-XOX-

The room was too white, too sterile. It made the body in the bed seem weak and fragile. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Bucky was always the strong one. Always invincible.

Nobody would tell Steve what was going on. Tony had looked grave and forbidden Jarvis from saying anything. He claimed he and Bruce needed to make conclusions first - whatever that meant. Bucky's eyes darted beneath his closed eyelids. Steve hoped this was a sign that Bucky was waking up. They even had him on a damn ventilator for some reason.

If Steve ever got hold of the guys that did this... Bucky shifted, and Steve was out of his seat and pressed against the bed in a second.

"Buck?" He asked gently.

Bucky frowned, blinking to focus his hazy eyes. He hummed in amusement to himself.

"What got your knickers in a twist today?" He teased, falling asleep again before Steve could answer.

-XOX-

Tony and Bruce had spent half of the time bickering about what they had found, and the other half bickering when - and how - to tell the two super soldiers. They had finally managed to agree that a couple of day's recovery should be allowed before they broke the news. Tony hadn't wanted to tell them at all, but Bruce had argued vehemently that they deserved to know - they needed to know. It was - after all - life changing. Though whether or not it would be for the better remained to be seen.

Steve was tearing himself up wondering what it was they weren't telling them. Bucky, quite frankly, could not care less as long as he was alive and could still partake in frequent sex with Steve.

-XOX-

"-there was internal bleeding, so one of the medbots performed surgery to find out where it was coming from and try to stop it. We found what we originally thought was a tumour but was in actual fact-"

"I'm sorry but you lost the baby." Tony butted in. Steve and Bucky both ignored his plea for attention, their focus still on Bruce. Bruce glared at Tony with exasperation.

"You were supposed to let me explain first!"

Bucky felt his stomach drop - Bruce wouldn't joke like this.

"Carry on. I don't...I don't understand," Steve murmured, "and don't interrupt this time." His eyes flickered to Tony in warning.

"As I was saying. We found what we thought was a tumour, and this seemed to be the source of the bleeding. We ran a quick scan to see if it was possible to remove it. This is where it gets weird. Jarvis came back and said that there would be no need to remove it as the bleeding would eventually stop by itself. All we had to do was...mop up until it did. We suspect that the Russians implanted this...organ with the ultimate intention of using Bucky to breed a new generation of soldier. Obviously Bucky isn't made to carry children so they most likely would have transferred embryos to a test tube. You would have miscarried soon anyway as you are not physically built to carry to term. It was only ever intended as an insemination organ, a chamber to combine DNA."

"Bucky was...with child?" Steve spluttered dumfoundedly. Bucky was frozen, staring unblinking at the dent in the sheets at the foot of the bed made by his own feet. Tony nodded sombrely, feeling slightly guilty still for his interruption earlier.

"How could they do this? How could anyone do this?!"

"Cap-" Tony warned nodding to Bucky, who was still staring, but his chest was heaving as he began to hyperventilate. He felt violated. Even after he had been rid of them, they were still fucking with his life. Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky, pulling his docile form against him. A broken moan escaped from Bucky as he began to shake in Steve's arms.

-XOX-

Tony and Bruce left the medbay, giving the other two some privacy to react to the news. Steve held Bucky until his shaking stopped, the horror recessed and he fell into an exhausted sleep. While Bucky slept, Steve was called away on a non-urgent mission. He figured they could both use the space to get their heads in order.

When Bucky woke alone, he awkwardly pulled on the clothes next to his bed and went looking around the tower for his partner. Barton telling him - while playing a video game - that Steve would be gone for at least a month left Bucky feeling worse.

Abandoned.

Freakish.

Despite it not being a covert mission, Steve didn't call him; neither did he return the calls Bucky made for shield to pass on to him.

Bucky assumed the others had been appraised of the situation based off of Nat's sympathetic glances every time he dashed to the phone and Jane's forceful suggestions he play monopoly with her and Darcy yet again. Clint even tried to distract him once by goading him into a fight. He didn't do it again. Bucky definitely let out all of his pent up frustration on the well-meaning man.

-XOX-

Bucky had just been for a swim in the scorching midday sun. The floor had begun to burn his feet as he dashed across it to the small building housing the elevator. He was dry by the time he reached it. He went down a floor and slipped into their ensuite, stepping under the water to quickly blast the smell of chlorine off of him. He was just massaging a small globule of shower gel into his hair when a cold draft hit him.

Warm arms wrapped around his waist and a naked body plastered itself to his back. A nose nuzzled wetly into his neck, and a heavy voice murmured; "I think I like coming home to this." Bucky rolled his eyes, still irritated that Steve had t even attempted to contact him.

"At least let me rinse off before you fuck me."

Bucky took his time, pretending not to be affected when Steve started to impatiently work him open. They both knew that - despite pretences - Bucky was into it just as much as Steve was at that point. There was the sound of a tearing package, and Bucky paid it no attention assuming it was just a sachet of lube.

He assumed this right until Steve pushed in. It felt different. Steve moved. Bucky let out a cry as he realised what was going on. Steve was wearing a condom. Bucky could technically get pregnant now and that couldn't be something Steve wanted. But what about what Bucky wanted? He wanted things the way they were. He wanted them to be able to fuck wherever, whenever, for Steve to not act like he would break.

He didn't give a damn about potentially having kids. If it happened, it happened. Though to be fair the chances of it were pretty low, considering he and Steve had been having copious amounts of sex for almost a year and a half before this happened.

Against his will his eyes began to water, but thankfully it went unnoticed under the steady stream of water. He came with a sob, desperately missing the hot rush as Steve climaxed too.