OPEN TO CR (and +1's, why not!!)

[revlon]

Who: Peggy Carter (revlon), Steve Rogers (starspangle) & Various
What: The wedding!
When: Dec 1
Where: Thesa Station
Warning(s): N/A

[ To anyone who knows Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, this wedding has been a long time coming — almost too long. So perhaps it isn't surprising at all that once they finally got engaged, the ceremony fell into place fairly quickly. Neither of them are ones for much fuss so they've decided to have it up on the station so friends and guests can attend no matter where on the island they live. And while the exhibition hall on Thesa isn't the English countryside or a church in New York City, this day is still uniquely theirs and intrinsically tied to the life they've made here.

It's an intimate late afternoon ceremony with wide windows overlooking the vastness of space and its twinkling stars. Steve, in a sharp suit one might recognise from last December's holiday gala, has Bucky Barnes as his best man and Claire Fraser is there for Peggy as matron of honour — the first friend she made in this new world. With so many absent friends, the bride decides to walk herself down the short aisle and the wedding gown is an understated, elegant affair in satin with a touch of beaded lace, expertly tailored by Claire's own hands. When the bride and groom meet, Captain Kirk begins:

"Since the days of the first wooden vessels, all ship's masters have had one happy privilege. That of uniting two people in the bonds of matrimony. And so we are gathered here today with you, Margaret Elizabeth Carter, and you, Steven Grant Rogers, in the sight of your fellows..."

And once they are pronounced Mr and Mrs Rogers, the party can officially begin! There's a hodgepodge dinner buffet courtesy of the mess hall (and cake later, of course) so perhaps you're trying to decide where to start first; or maybe you've forgone the food for the self-service bar with wine, whiskey, and beer. (Champagne for the toast!) If tipple isn't to your tastes, then maybe the dancing is — it isn't big band swing music, but it's close enough, and you're attending the wedding of some golden oldies from the 1940s so there's sure to be someone cutting a rug. Or maybe you're taking a breather from all that and taking in the view of the stars and the planet below.

Whatever your fancy, mingle and enjoy! ]

Comments

[lednikovyy]

Bucky claps him on the shoulder, mindful that it's with his right hand because he's always mindful of which hand he's using. "Don't worry about it. Just enjoy yourself. You're from the same world, right?"

He's talked to Natasha a few times. She's a little less scary than the one from back home, if only because they've never shot each other. It's a low bar. She's still pretty intimidating.

[deadthenred]

He doesn't flinch at the contact. Which is something.

"We are, but…" But he'd like to think, maybe, that there were other worlds where he and Natasha worked out. Maybe all the other worlds, like an arrow that always found home. People weren't arrows, though, they weren't weapons. Natasha reminded him of that.

"Hang on." A pause. "She didn't— she didn't do anything, did she?"

[lednikovyy]

"What? No." And Bucky can't tell if that's concern or something else. "We've just talked a few times. The Romanoff from my world might have a few bones to pick with me, though."

He's shot her at least twice to his knowledge, so that's a thing, but in the end she'd helped him and Steve get away, anyway. He knows it's much more about Steve than him. He's not a positive on too many people's radars these days, which is why he's so thankful to have Steve and Peggy here.

"I like her." He says that knowing full well that she could probably crush a man's skull between her thighs. That might actually be why he likes her. Sharp sense of humor, too.

[deadthenred]

"The one from my world has a couple bones to pick with me." Bucky'd drink to that, but, instead, stares down into the cold reality of his empty glass. It catches some of the light from the lamps overhead.

"I love her." He doesn't look up.

[lednikovyy]

Oh. Oh, that got serious real fast. Even when things get this heavy with Steve, Bucky feels this compulsive need to crack jokes just to lighten the air between them and he can't quite clamp down on that urge now, either.

"Well I hope those bones involve less bullet wounds than mine do." Of course, it's not a funny joke.

A pause and then he figures he can actually sack up on this for once. For some version of him that's still miraculously capable of feeling like that about someone else. Just like with Steve, it's worth the awkward feeling that settles low in his gut, because Bucky doesn't think he's ever going to have something like that again, but that doesn't mean other people shouldn't.

"Hell. Look, if you're still capable of lovin' someone after everything, you should do something about it. What are you wasting your time talking to some shitty version of yourself for? Go dance with her."

He tries not to read too much into the fact that he wants this guy who went through almost exactly what he did to be happy while he continues to do his level best to punish himself in every way he can.

[deadthenred]

"It's a bit more complicated than that. This is a do-over." Their relationship, he means, going out together. He's trying to be slow about it, to give her time.

Bucky screws up his face and tries to read the other guy's reaction, what's fitting into those pauses. Okay, he's a little confused, and a little curious, about what his life would be like without Natasha in it. But Bucky— the other Bucky— isn't living his life.

"You're wondering how I could try…" A life, a relationship, happiness. "How I could deserve it, after everything."

[lednikovyy]

"No." Not exactly. "We're not the same person." And maybe that's more of admission than anything.

He takes a sip of his drink, long enough that it's probably obvious that he's trying to avoid the question hanging there.

"Besides, it's not about deserving." No, Bucky doesn't really worry about what he deserves. He doesn't even deserve the second chance at life he's got here with Steve and Peggy, but he's not going to throw that away to punish himself. "I haven't exactly been in control of my own faculties that long."

[deadthenred]

"I don't deserve it. But life ain't fair." He really shouldn't have drunk his whole glass in one go. That was not responsible. But he raises his eyebrow at that last revelation.

"I guess I just figured… since you talk to Steve…" Which is a dumb assumption, because he knows there's a lot about their worlds that doesn't match up. But the stuff that's still the same makes it easy to assume. It's a real trip.

"I couldn't face him for more than a year, after," he admits.

[lednikovyy]

"I managed to avoid him for two years after I got away from HYDRA and he only caught up to me because someone else set me up." He purses his lips and glances across the room to where Steve's talking with other guests.

"That was only a few days before I woke up here, though, and I barely knew who I was for most of that time, so I'm not..." He trails off with a shrug. His memories are still Swiss cheese and he barely sleeps some nights.

After a moment, he sighs. This isn't something he'd say to anyone else. "Don't always feel like a human being, you know?"

[deadthenred]

"And when you do it's almost like it'd be better if you didn't." He pauses long enough for his tongue to feel his teeth. It had been a lot easier to sleep when he had the machines doing it for him. "Yeah."

[lednikovyy]

"So it ain't about deserving anything, then. It's about being capable of having it, so if you are, don't be an idiot. Steve waited too long and he almost missed out on being with Peggy. World's probably not gonna end twice is all I'm sayin'."

The smile he gives Bucky is bittersweet and yeah, he's projecting an awful lot and he knows it and he doesn't really care. This is what it is. They're going to have a weird relationship and they're just going to have to deal with that. It's not like Bucky has many relationships that aren't weird lately.

[deadthenred]

He doesn't believe that Bucky is really incapable of love. And maybe that's wishful thinking, or projecting, or some other kind of broken-mirror crap. But he doesn't.

Still, he's not gonna push it, not tonight.

"Are you trying to give me romantic advice, now? Like you're some kinda expert?" Awful rich of him, Bucky thinks.

[lednikovyy]

"I used to be an expert." He shrugs, like his dating tips aren't mostly from the 1940s. Yeah maybe he's no expert anymore, but some things are timeless.

"Can't be too much different from riding a bike."

[deadthenred]

"Well, Dorothy Dix, this one's not in any of your columns." He's pretty sure "a psycho madman I helped train wiped all her memories of me" is not something there's a whole lot of advice for.

"But I didn't bring a girl to a party so could avoid dancing with her all night." He isn't a complete idiot.

[lednikovyy]

"And I'm sure she didn't come with you because she hates spending time with you, either." Bucky laughs. "At least that wasn't what they used to do back in the stone age."

[deadthenred]

"You're not that old," he responds, flatly.

[lednikovyy]

"For some reason a century feels pretty fuckin' old." Not that Bucky's feeling any of that physically, but mentally? He feels like he's lived several lifetimes. Still, he's doing his best to have a sense of humor about it. What else is he going to do?

[deadthenred]

He thinks of the cake Natasha got for him, the last time he actually celebrated his birthday. The one with all the candles.

"Fine. I'm not that old."

[lednikovyy]

"That's the spirit!" A laugh, genuine and a lot lighter than the conversation had been getting for a while. "Prove that your junk still works."

[deadthenred]

"I didn't know that was a question." He looks up at the other Bucky, then looks back to his empty glass, eyebrows only raised a little.

[lednikovyy]

"It was definitely a question. Do you want the answer?" Now he's laughing harder. This is really too good.

[deadthenred]

"Is this a knock-knock joke? Hey, if you've got it, tell me." It's a valiant struggle, keeping a straight face, but he manages.

[lednikovyy]

The words come out through the laughter that he can't quite kill. He's in a good mood for the first time in a long time. Sue him. "Could've been a fluke. Needs more testing." And that's all he's going to say on that topic. A guy doesn't hook up in the woods like a teenager and tell, right?

[deadthenred]

"Oh." That wasn't the answer he was expecting, and for a moment that surprise writes itself on his face. Then he raises an eyebrow.

"You're right," he says, with a sage affect. "It could've been a fluke."

[lednikovyy]

"Right? So I'll need to test it for science." Really not a plan he's going to follow through on, but it's harmless to joke. "I'll get back to you on the results. I assume you're the most invested in this after me and maybe whoever helps me conduct my research."

Maybe.