It was raining, and that automatically qualified it for Shitty Morning status in Bucky's book.

He stifled a groan as he rolled out of Steve's bed (long empty, Steve got up before six) and pressed a hand to his aching shoulder. Rainy days always made it hurt, drained his energy and made him want to curl up somewhere dark to hide his weakness; he did his best to ignore it. He pulled on one of Steve's hoodies for its too-large warmth- modern clothes are something he can really get behind, sometimes- and made himself leave the room.

Their personal kitchen is empty of everything except bananas (which he refuses to eat, modern bananas are disgusting) so he goes up to the communal floor for breakfast.

Clint had gotten back from his latest mission in who-the-fuck-knows-where and was raiding the fridge for cold pizza with a single-minded intensity ravenous wolves would admire. He gave Bucky a tired wave and tossed him a slice before perching (literally perching, the man cannot use a chair to save his life) on the table. Bucky slumped gracelessly into a chair and dropped his head into his hand.

"Just a heads up, we have a visitor." Hawkeye gestured in the general direction of the guest room down the hall. "Weird inter-dimensional shit happened and a kid from another universe got dropped here, but Tony and Bruce are working on it. He's from the same world as last time so he shouldn't be here long."

Bucky had to blink at him a moment before he could respond.

"Last time?" Clint shrugged.

"Yeah, you missed the crazy sniper lady and the guy who snapped to make fire. Lucky you- I got my ass singed." He grinned, all teeth. "Kid that came through this time is a firecracker- whatever you do, don't make short jokes. He decked Agent Crest for it."

With that startling pronouncement Clint left, leaving Bucky wondering just what kind of kid would be brave enough to punch the 6-foot-plus Agent.

Whoever Bucky had imagined, he was nothing like the kid that slumped out of the guest room in too-large pajamas an hour later. He certainly didn't scream firecracker, contrary to Clint's claim.

He had bright blond hair and startling yellow eyes, looked to be sixteen at the absolute oldest, and was limping slightly with one hand pressed to his right shoulder in a way that looked way too familiar.

"Good morning, Mr. Elric." The boy grunted and waved his left hand at the ceiling. The other remained firmly tucked into his pocket, hidden below the long sleeve.

"I've told you, JARVIS, it's just Ed." He caught Bucky's incredulous stare and the intense eyes narrowed. "What? I'm from a different dimension, that doesn't mean I'm an idiot. Tony explained JARVIS to me already."

Bucky sat up a little straighter, the nagging pain making him more irritable than normal.

"Well excuse me, big shot, for thinking you might be confused over something that startles even people from this dimension!"

"See, your first bad idea was thinking." The kid snapped, running his fingers through his tangled bangs.

"Look here, you-" He cut off as he stood up, because Ed's eyes darted down to the metal hand now visible where he'd planted it on the table. He took a breath, preparing to deny the anticipated pity, but was shocked when the kid's shoulders inexplicably softened.

"Rain gets to you too?" He finally pulled his right hand out of his pocket to reveal a metal hand, less sophisticated than Bucky's but still obviously prosthetic. He had to blink.

"… Yeah." The kid nodded and slid into a chair.

"Sorry. Rain makes it-"

"-hurt, makes you angry for nothing." The two of them locked eyes, and they both relaxed. Finally, they knew someone who understood first-hand.

"Found anything that helps?"

"Heat, for me."

"I think we have a heating pad around here somewhere."

When Steve finally came back from his morning run (which most people would call a marathon, geez Steve) he found his best friend and their interdimensional guest sharing the couch with heating pads against their respective prosthetics, loudly arguing over what to watch.

Well, it's a better outcome than he'd anticipated.

Author's Notes:

Guess who saw CA:tWS and got hit by the feels train? With a vengeance? Yep. SS did.

I don't know why, but I have the headcanon that Bucky and Ed would either try to kill each other immediately or get along like a house on fire. In this version it's the latter.

If you want to follow me on Tumblr, you can find me as songsofthepen. I post some original work there as well as fanfiction and writing-related stuff. Come hang with me!

I hope you enjoyed this update to a fic even I thought was complete. (Apparently I have a bad track record with that.)

-SS