[ hey, i brought you this soulmate ]

[thefreakout]

soulmate meme ;
▸ post your character ◂
▸ you're now in a universe where destined soul mates exist! ◂
▸ rng for the type of au and for the ~situation~ ◂
▸ tag around ♥ ◂

type of au;

1. tats, your character has a tattoo of the first words the love of their life will say to them
2. familiars, your character has an animal tattoo representing their soul mate on them
3. glow, the first time your character sees their soul mate, their chests glow!
4. world in color, life is literally black and white, until you see your soul mate for the first time
5. choose your own, i'm definitely missing a milly because i'm lazy, pick your own

situation;

1. first meeting, you've never met this person before.
2. childhood mates, you've always known this person -- but on one particular birthday, everything changes.
3. together, you've been in a relationship for awhile now! happily wed or not, you decide.
4. not together, you've known you're soul mates for a long time, and yet have avoided a relationship.
5. choose your own, self explanatory c:

Comments

[starkingenuity]

No shit, Tony thinks as he sets down the glass and rereads the letter again. Steve has printing like newstype, like an artist. None of the important things at the moment are written in that script and so he focuses on making sure he commits the last four words and their chicken scratch lettering to memory. It's not easy to do when the world is swimming around your head, that's for sure, but Tony makes a genuine effort before he makes a bigger one going to get some coffee.

What he should do after that is take a nap and sleep off some of the alcohol, but he doesn't. He can't.

This is far too important.

Letter shoved into his pocket (folded gently, thank you), Tony sprawls out on a white leather couch and props his sneakered feet on the arm rest so the soles of his shoes don't touch the sofa. He gazes at the phone for a moment before he hits option 2 on the speed dial and waits as it rings.

Bucky would have just gotten done a therapy session with the princess, which had amounted to much less talking and much more computer programming to find a way to erase the trigger words from his mind in a way that would trip the circuit from Bucky to the mindless soldier. It's exhausting...both being around someone so exuberant, and being a test subject. Even if the testing is kind and so far non-invasive.

[freightcars]

Frankly, he feels a little bit like a moron in the first five minutes when he says, I thought this was gonna be some kind of, I don't know, talk therapy. She fires back Do I look like Dr. Phil to you? Get in the chair, we have work to do. Does it in a way that's kind, though, with a smile and no heat to her words. It becomes rapidly apparent that assuming she's a shrink is offensive to what she actually is: a god damn genius. His eyebrows are practically in his hairline when she almost immediately pulls up a 3D holographic representation of his brain, and the neural pathways within it.

Truth be told, it leaves him a little more optimistic about the whole thing. He had his doubts that talking it out or hypnosis or something would actually undo 70 years of programming, but lasering his brain to just burn off the synaptic connections is a tangible, physical thing.

He's on board.

He's only out in the hallways after the appointment when the cell starts going off, and there's only two people it could be.

It's not the one he was expecting. He can't put this on hold, or send it to voicemail, he can't, so he ducks into a pristine, minimalist alcove meant to be a waiting area for the medical lab. The phone responds to his metal fingers in a strange and specific way.

He answers.

There's a beat of silence, and then a careful, "Hey."

[starkingenuity]

Hey is such an amusing way to answer the phone that Tony can't help himself but laugh. Hearing Bucky's voice doesn't immediately trigger anything in him, though. It's been too long. Their connection had been minor. Knowledge of one's soulmate does not a bond make and so Tony's current depressive state has nothing to do with bonding sickness or the like. It's purely emotional. And yes, the man without a heart can indeed prove it's there simply by the ache he feels at missing out what could have been the best thing to have ever happened to him in his entire life.

Considering the massive amounts of things he's experienced, that's a huge compliment.

"How's Wakanda?" he's slurring a little, though the words are calculated and precise to control that. He's a functioning alcoholic at his lowest periods and he knows exactly how to overcome his drinking habit when something important comes up and requires his attention. He's managed to do quite a lot in his life in various stages of drunkenness, he's happy to report. There's just something missing in his speech though. The off-the-cuff quality to it is missing.

[freightcars]

His life's not over. Neither of their lives are over, even if it does consistently feel like the end of the world every other day. Even if they both feel old, worn down, past some kind of point of no return. The reality is, they have some tomorrows left still.

He doesn't know Tony well enough to know the intricacies of his voice. Can't tell that he's been drinking, not yet - he can only tell that it's missing a levity it felt like almost everything else had those days ago at the start. Even if they were angry, twisted, judgemental - there was still a certain bleak humor to them. An attitude.

He doesn't hear that.

But it's only two words.

He presses his back against a wall, losing himself in the phone so hard that he doesn't even see the tiled floor his eyes are pointed at.

"Better than prison," He says, only barely joking. "Better than a Hydra deep freezer, too."

And those shitty, sketchy, probably ought to be abandoned apartment buildings in the cheapest parts of Romania. Better than anything he's had in the last lifetime he's lived.

"How's-- New York, right?"

[starkingenuity]

How is New York? Recovering from an intergalactic family grudge. Trying to come to grips with the world as it is. Being a whole cosmos unto themselves. Tony smiles and gets comfortable. He's not a big conversationalist, not on the phone at least, but this feels somewhat therapeutic. It's likely not because of the particular person so much as it's a person at all.

Maybe that's not exactly fair to Bucky, though. If Steve were on the other end of the line, Tony would be much less content right now.

He manages a little quip about the city still standing and squints up at the ceiling. "Not in the city, though." He can feel his eyelids start to lower and he snaps them open far too quickly. He hasn't slept in who knows how long and as comfortable as he feels night now, if he starts to snore, he'll be angry at himself. "Working on getting Ross off your case."

Okay, no he isn't. He's been wallowing. But he will be working to get Ross off of Bucky's case. He needs to see him and he knows for a fact he won't be welcome in Wakanda.

[freightcars]

There's a quiet moment following the comment, soft surprise, grateful interest. He tries to frame his words before he says them, so it comes out a little slow and a little careful.

"Wasn't sure you'd want to get involved," considering the push-back he got during their first meeting. It's been a little whiplash even in their short time, from absolute mistrust and disregard to an intensity in their brief exchanges, the unfairness of it all on clean display on Tony's face.

He doesn't have a good, comprehensive understanding on where Tony stands on this whole thing. Feels a little too forward to just ask.

"Don't be too upset if it's a lost cause. As far as criminal records go... Mine's a CVS receipt. Even if you take off the UN, the stuff I did when I was..."

Something else in his mind.

All that is worthy of the death penalty.

[starkingenuity]

“Last I heard, that wasn’t you.” You can’t blame the Manchurian Candidate. Tony has no doubt that a certain faction will probably blame him, but Stark has enough money to change anyone’s mind. At least where it counts. He’s not at all above playing the games he has to play to get his way.

Maybe he should run for office? Imagine what he could do to protect people if he was capable of passing law rather than just lobbying it?

Perhaps a more sober minded Stark will find reasons not to but this Stark is already planning how to get out of giving an acceptance speech for Senate.

The couch creaks under him as he turns onto his stomach, the phone resting on his face as his lets his knuckles rub along the thick white rug spread beneath the couch.

“Would you be okay if we pin all the blame on Rogers?” The guy deserves it.

[freightcars]

A soft puff of breath is the only answer Tony gets at his supposition. He's not sure that's entirely true - more than that, he's not sure Stark would share this same opinion if he knew what Bucky's still got left to tell him. He can't bring himself to do that over the phone, though, and not so soon into this... tentative thing they're trying to navigate. Once they get to see each other face to face, or at least maybe through virtual conferencing, he'll work up to it.

Soon. He means it when he tells himself that. He's never been one to bear secrets out of fear for accepting the responsibility of them.

At least part of it was him. His body, his fault for breaking, and the cognitive awareness at the moment is still in his memory, first person perspective, undeniably him. A piece of him that they just sharpened and isolated. Still a piece of the whole. If a car crashes because it's got faulty parts, it's still a car crash.

He does, however, huff a surprised and breathy chuckle at the request.

"Afraid not. Wilson, though... still on the table."

[starkingenuity]

Wilson... which one is Wilson... Tony makes a mental shrug before the face slips into view. Sam Wilson. With the wings. The guy Rogers thought was the better person to go searching for his soulmate with. Yeah. Tony is feeling some sort of way about that. His mood involuntarily darkens.

“He didn’t spent our entire friendship lying to me,” Tony says, and though he’s classified his relationship with Steve as ‘friend,’ it’s not exactly accurate. Tony hasn’t had the chance to get to know Steve the way he has some of the other Avengers, though the blond has always managed to push him to be better despite everything.

He is pretty sure Bucky doesn’t want to listen to his best friend raked through the mud, and so Tony’s follow up to that is a sigh.

“I could have found you so much faster, Barnes,” he ends up complaining instead. “Probably could have saved you.”

[freightcars]

He can't really say much about their entire friendship and the lies within it - after his anger simmered down to a low boil with Steve it's become easier not to outright fault him for it. Still thinks it was wrong, but he can't carry a grudge after everything Steve's done and he really can't bring himself to partner with talking bad about him. His loyalty streak's too high.

It slips away without comment, only silence in response for that.

What gets him, though... What really gets him... Probably could have saved you. His throat feels thick, chest tight, a jolt of anger or unfairness or something cascading through him that he has to take a silent second to stifle.

"Maybe," he agrees in a way that suggests it's more like maybe not. "The world thought I was dead. Nobody could track my name to- what I was. Even after it came out and Steve woke me out of it, those first few months..."

Weren't good. He wasn't a person. He was a wailing animal, a screaming storm with a metal fist. Something that teetered on the brink of swallowing a bullet. Someone who didn't know who he was, only what he'd done.

"You wouldn't have wanted to find me."

[starkingenuity]

What Bucky says is the truth. There’s a good chance that, two years ago when he was in the throes of a happy relationship and a thriving business, he really wouldn’t have wanted to be saddled with a soulmate. Just as Bucky has with his comments on Steve, Tony doesn’t say anything now either in favor of trying not to kindle a fire he’s not prepared to handle.

Instead, he says something that may be objectively worse.

“I can still save you,” he says with the certainty of a drunk and the sadness of a man without an equal. Banner no longer fills the spaces he has always needed filled with conversation and understanding.

Maybe Bucky can’t either but Tony is desperate enough for a connection to try it.

”And I know where you are now. No more excuses.” Tony has to physically pull himself up, climbing up the back of the couch to right himself again. It’s a struggle. He’s throwing the damned alcohol away after this. “I just need some time. And a little less meddling.” Ahem. Steve. “You just have to start growing your hair out a little more for me, Rapunzel.”

[freightcars]

Tony plucks a chord in his chest like a guitar string, a single radiating note that reverberates through his ribs and curls around his heart. It's sad and sweet and beautiful, and he has to peel away from the wall he'd been leaning on to just... pace a few steps. His head dips down, hair obstructing his face, phone held to his ear like it's glued there.

I can still save you.

He gets his first inkling that maybe Tony's not all in the way of sober now, just some combination of his tone and his sentiment, the deep contrast between now and before. I'm all out of helping hands today unless you're ready to surrender.

Another soft, breathy laugh at Rapunzel.

"Sweetheart, much as I appreciate the gesture, maybe instead of saving me you can just start by learning how to trust me. Maybe take a day trip or two."

The pet name slips out of its own accord, an accident, an old habit from a man he used to be but isn't any longer. Something he hasn't said in years and years.

And anyway, he doesn't think he can be saved - too much history to his name. Too many black marks. Too much death. Even if Tony could pull it off... well, there's a big murmuring voice in his head telling him he probably doesn't deserve it.

[starkingenuity]

It sounds like a challenge. Tony enjoys them, he loves to show off, and if Bucky doesn’t think he can deliver, he’s got another thing coming.

Back on his feet, Tony bends to pick up his still warm coffee mug and pauses as he brings it halfway to his lips. Trust is something he has struggled with since Uncle Obi had tried to kill him. Trusting someone you love only lets that person know where you’re most vulnerable at. He trusted his parents and they sent him to boarding school. He trusted his nanny and... well that’s a story for another day. He trusted Obadiah and ended up underground for four months. He trusted Pepper and she stole his heart. He trusted JARVIS, but a body was better than being his friend. He trusted Steve and the man kept the most important thing in his life from him.

This is going to be a hard one, Bucky.

“Can’t commit,” Tony says, though the sweetheart that had come first has stained his lips with a smile. “Hard to trust Brooklyn.” Because that accent. Wow. Tony doesn’t know the last time he unleashed Long Island.

The New York Borough rivalry is strong here.

“What do you think? Can you sneak me in? Don’t suppose you’ve got an in with the King?”

[freightcars]

"Oof," He audibly winces, playing it up just a hair for the sake of a little rapport. Hard dagger to the heart, huh, Stark?

(In all actuality, the ties he had with Brooklyn have faded to something distant. His Brooklyn and this Brooklyn might as well be different planets. He thinks of hovels in Romania when he thinks of home.)

He finds himself lowering down onto a chair in the waiting alcove, long legs stretching out and body slumping back into the worst sort of posture - not terribly unlike a teenage boy, if that boy were two hundred pounds of muscle and had a metal arm. "Fortunately, the king feels a little bad for tryin' to take my head off for something I didn't do. Think I could maybe sway him and call in the favor already, but it'd take some work. You'd have to comply to their terms."

About how he gets in, what he brings with him, what he has access to, how long he can stay. They'll monitor tech and they'll make for damn sure Tony doesn't get a good opportunity to look at anything too long without someone auditing its importance.

Might be more trouble than Tony's willing to commit to. "If I were still sixteen and this were a fire escape window I'd get you in no problem. It's a little different."

[starkingenuity]

If they were sixteen, they’d have their whole lives ahead of them. Things would be different. So different. Tony can’t think about that for more than a moment because his mind takes him to the joy it must have been having a friend-like brother. He can’t actually do that thought justice because it’s so foreign to him. As is sneaking in through windows. At sixteen, he was on his way to MIT, ready to surpass the life work of countless adults in the span of two semesters. The cockiness started then as a shield to protect him from the jealousy and dislike he faced as a teenager.

No wonder it took him so long to grow up.

Tony outright winces into his coffee at the thought of playing by someone else’s rules. He can’t even play by his own rules and he has the scars to prove that. He props the phone between his shoulder and chin and heads towards the staircase leading upstairs.

“It would be easier to meet on neutral ground,” he suggestions. T’Challa would know his reputation. It’s easier to swallow a central meeting place. “And if you tell the people that need to know what’s on your chest.”

Tony knows very little about Wakanda, but he can’t imagine they would willfully separate soulmates.

[freightcars]

He shifts up in the chair, transitions gently into a forward-sloped back with his left forearm on his thigh. Dips his head down so he can scratch at his eyebrow with a metal thumb for a second, curled over himself and eyeing the floor again.

Neutral ground.

"You're right, the thing is..." It's not the chest part, he'll flash the tattoo at anyone that looks. You'd have to be out of your god damn mind not to be proud of the fact that you're soulmates with Tony "I Am Iron Man" saving peoples lives avenging genius Stark. It's the first part. "I don't know where neutral ground is anymore. There was a manhunt for me internationally. My face's been on every news station oin the globe. If I show up anywhere with civilization, there's a chance someone's going to call it into someone who knows what I am and how to use me."

Which... he supposes is a problem that can be averted only one way.

"Unless you're a fan of camping..."

[starkingenuity]

“I’ll figure it out,” Tony says almost too quickly, as if he’s afraid that his brain will catch up with some biological urge he has to do whatever it takes to see Bucky again. He’s sure it’s just an emotional response to the alcohol and the loneliness and nothing else, easy to squash once he’s sober, but by that same token, it would also be easy to back out if he didn’t give his word.

Now, there are other possibilities that Tony might have suggested, like one of the many homes he has scattered across the globe, or perhaps the purchase of a small island, but he’s very likely being watched. Large purchases, even made through shell companies, would be traced back to him.

Thankfully, he has a bit of a habit of traveling the globe of late on his downtime in his search for the whereabouts of one Not So Jolly Green Giant, and so he plans to make a few reservations across India at top hotels to throw anyone curious off of his trail.

Tony isn’t good at hiding. He’s never been good at it. He doesn’t even want to try but he doesn’t have a whole lot of options left to him right now. Lay low and see Bucky it... don’t.

“I’m going to be in Chennai in three days. The Grand Marquis. Have someone tell me where to go and I’ll be there.” He’s really going to hate himself when this coffee kicks in.

[freightcars]

That ain't exactly his immediate thought when it comes to laying low - frankly, he'd been going a little overboard picturing the god damn Russian wilderness in Winter a hundred miles form civilization, but admittedly that's just his own paranoia driving him. Had to stay alive by himself, had to navigate by himself, had to keep himself safe for those years. Erring on the side of caution is the only thing that worked, and he knows for a fact it preserved him at least two lethal encounters with Hydra operatives who wanted to drag him back and rip him from his body.

It's a choice between his fear-based paranoia, and never seeing Tony again.

He chews his lip, gnawing at the skin.

"I'll figure something out," finally escapes, resignation and a promise. He'll make it work, even though he knows Steve's gonna disapprove and T'Challa's going to give him some hard looks about it.

He'll take it. Navigate those things. Accept the risks and the lectures and the potential consequences. "I'll go talk to them now. It's gonna take some time to figure out."

And he does.

They end their call with not much else aside from a strange, weighted goodbye.

At nearly midnight that third day after radio silence, Tony will finally get a text message. Coordinates to a secluded spot on Marina Beach, some place out in the middle of goddamn nowhere that there isn't a soul to be seen, especially this late at night, except for one.

He'll be there with his feet in the path of the tide and his ass in the sand, waiting.

[starkingenuity]

Tony has been to India many, many times. He’s gone through his spiritual phases, sure, but there’s only two places in the world to get really good curry and that’s Chennai and London. The former had seemed like the best place to lay low for awhile and deal with his problems through outreach to Ross and other members of the UN and congress. Working remotely is on brand for him and no one seems to expect anything, not even Ross, though he barely seems willing to trust what Tony says. Luckily, no one needs him to.

The rendezvous location comes after Tony’s made some headway with the State Department, as he’s headed back from dinner at one of his favorite restaurants. They don’t have time to stop back at the hotel, but that hardly matters. Tony never travels light and the trunk has everything he imagines he’ll need if called up suddenly to ‘rough it.’

He has Happy park back on the road so that he can head towards the solitary figure in the sand, a black lump by the moonlit surf. He takes his time, feeling the sand shift under his feet. He’s wearing all white, linen to stave off the heat, though the night air is more than just a little cool on the skin beneath the fabric. It prickles with goosebumps but he ignores it. Just knowing who waits for him leaves his stomach smoldering. That will keep him warm enough.

Tony isn’t sure if this is their final destination, if Bucky has a plane at his disposal or if Tony will need to provide the transport for the rest of the trip, but that’s not a question for the moment.

He focuses instead on finding a spot beside the other man, hair far too full of product to blow in the wind the way Bucky’s does.

“Am I interrupting the brooding and writing smi poetry?”

[freightcars]

He blames the ocean tide for how long it takes him to notice the sound of oncoming feet in the sand. The steady waves lapping and receding make for a really calming white noise, so he only looks over his shoulder when Tony's about ten feet away. It would've been too late if it were anyone else, and the spike of anxiety gives way to a quick, pulsing relief.

The quip has his lips quirking up, faintly amused.

"I don't know, maybe you wanna take another lap on your white horse for the cologne commercial first and I might be done by then," He answers, slow and dry, a subtle pleasure in the back and forth playing around the way his eyes slit a bit more than usual. He doesn't get up, which might be a slight indicator there isn't a second stop on this visit. His elbows settle on his knees, the water floods in past his heels, and he watches Tony settle himself in the sand with a curious, keen perception.

There's a lot to learn here. A lot to store away about Tony; how he moves, what his facial features give away about what he's thinking as opposed to what he wants to project. What his body language indicates about where they stand and whether or not he's interested.

Fortunately, Bucky's always been an intent observer. That's all he plans to do here tonight - watch, learn, get a feel for this whole thing.

[starkingenuity]

Tony hums the commercial’s jingle in response, knees drawn up so his white canvas shoes don’t touch the edge of the water. It’s not like he can’t use the extra bit of body heat either, though Bucky’s proximity, that itch of a bond waiting to happen and the left over sun’s warmth from the day in the sand helps.

“Tell me honestly... is Wakanda like the steampunk Lion King we all want it to be or is it disappointingly over rated?” If Tony notices the hint of racism in that question, it certainly doesn’t stop him from saying it, or cause him to apologize. He’s genuinely curious, the way only a man who has the means to experience whatever he wants would be when finally denied something that is outside his reach. All he has are stories, most of which may be exaggerated. A closed kingdom is just that, and he has no frame of reference for it.

He can’t see as well as Bucky can in the moonlight, but he’s doing exactly the things the other man wants to do tonight. It’s ceased being a question of Tony’s acceptance of the fact that Bucky is his soul’s other half and more a desire to explore everything that means.

Funny how a man’s viewpoint can change when he’s denied something, even for so short a period of time. They won’t have long. There will be many days alone between this meeting and any other.

And Tony wants to memorize Bucky.

[freightcars]

"There are a lot of big cats," he acknowledges with some amusement, flickering his eyes over Tony's expression and even where he opts to place his shoes. A beat later his head dips, a sort of tilt like he means to make a confession.

"I don't actually know what steampunk is. Heard of it, but..." Not exactly a lot of time to spend on the internet, not when he was living off burner phone cell data (phone cards are expensive) and stolen free WiFi on the off-chance he was in a part of the country that offered such things.

That part isn't even the worst of it, he thinks what will garner the more disappointed reaction is, "I've also never seen Lion King."

Heard of that, too, but... again, can't exactly get his hands on a cousin's Netflix subscription. That might all change now that he's got an abundance of free time in Wakanda, not running from the collective world governments and with an actual WiFi password.

He leans gently, bumping the shoulder beside his. "But if it'll make you feel better, then yeah. Sure. It's exactly like steampunk Lion King."

[starkingenuity]

It’s almost comical that Bucky is pop culture blind enough not to know the Lion King movie but have enough knowledge of the Old Spice Man to reference it against the way he’s dressed. Of course, Bucky has probably seen the later on a television in passing, but spending two years trying to piece your life back together after being forced to commit heinous murders across the globe for decades can’t really provide a lot of time for the Disney vault. The thought is sobering. How Bucky manages to live his life and not be dragged under is remarkable.

Especially when Tony’s first reaction to the disappointment of losing his soulmate after meeting him is to drink himself under the god damned table. Sometimes, when one gains a little perspective, it’s embarrassing to compare reactions and circumstances.

They aren’t here for brunch. Small talk is pointless when the time is smaller still. Bucky’s warmth against his arm is proof of how fleeting this will be tonight.

“I’m going to get my things and tell Happy to come back... When? And where?” He won’t be disappointed if they stay here, but he really hadn’t anticipated a night of sand fleas.

[freightcars]

That's exactly the case - if it's been on cable TV in the last two or so years, there's a chance he's seen it. If it's relevant enough in the recent past to still be referenced on television shows, movies, or on the radio there's a chance he's heard of it. It's just the matter of retroactively consuming media from the time he was a machine that he's struggled with.

He found YouTube. He found Spotify. Found Facebook but didn't make one, because why the hell would he? All these things are accessible through the shitty internet browser that comes stock on the "smart phone" kits you can buy at gas stations. Scrounging up enough cash to stock up on phone cards wasn't as much of a priority as securing a place to sleep at night and enough food to keep up with his wicked metabolism.

(Admittedly, breaking out of Hydra hold has sort of been like getting out of jail. He's gone overboard on scarfing down food he was denied while captive. Exactly balanced, perfectly proportioned nutrient-dense tasteless nothing to maintain his body mass at peak and nothing more for seventy god damn years. He'll put down a cheeseburger and one of those chicken sandwich abominations where the bread is just fried chicken if he wants to.)

"This is the only place I could get clearance for them to drop me," He answers, a soft apology hidden in that level, sometimes inscrutable tone. "They're giving me seven hours, then I gotta go back so they can try and slowly sunburn holes into my brain."

Which is... an extremely simplified version of what they're actually doing - layer by layer searing those neural pathways, done gradually like hair removal or bleaching so as not to damage the tissue around it or scar too severely. They also have to run him through a sort of mental gamut to get those synapses to fire - bits and pieces of the phrase, flashes of imagery meant to evoke his association to his time as the soldier.

It's not pleasant. If he could skip it and stay he would, but until he's confident he can exist in public without the potential to slaughter people he cares about, he's not willing to skip a session.

[starkingenuity]

It’s gotta to mean something at least that Tony would come donning flimsy linen, no Iron Man armor in sight. It’s not entirely trust, but maybe it will make these seven short hours a little more sweetened. Bucky will still have to work to earn Tony’s actual trust, though, and not just his invincible mentality. The man’s cultivated that one all on his own for years, much to the chagrin of his own safety protocols.

“Seven hours isn’t enough to camp,” Tony complains, struggling to get to his feet with the sand sliding out from beneath his shoes. He’s not as graceful as the people on the Avengers roster with super powers or insane training regimens.

“Five minutes,” Tony states, the same sort of resigned touch to the words that Bucky had had back in Siberia. He won’t need the full five, it doesn’t take that long to tell Happy to load up a movie on his phone and shut the glass between the front and backseats of the car. They can sit someplace still deemed acceptable by whatever freak show Wakandan physician is lasering Bucky’s mind (Tony will be researching this later because that’s what he does when he decides he must become an expert in a topic). The location is still the same but the car is at least climate controlled.

When the older man returns to the beach, he holds a hand out to help Bucky to his feet. It will be the first time that they’ve touched in any real way, and Tony’s spine is flushing in anticipation of what it may well feel like.

“Got something better than a horse. It comes with snacks.”