sam with wings and the concept of him slowly but surely trusting bucky with touching it, and at some point, grooming it.
since sam is following bucky, tracing his locations, his feathers are always detached from the bones of his wings. easier to cover under a baggy jacket or a bagpack. the one time bucky showed up near sam and nearly touched the small downy feathers growing, sam got so stressed it triggered his raptor stress grip. he's holding bucky's metal arm and even bucky could feel how painfully tight sam's grip is. the painful grip sam has on bucky's arm only subsided when the whirrings inside of it also calmed down, enough for sam to convince his raptor brain that he can fight bucky and win, without damaging his back, his growing feathers, his wings.
bucky first saw sam's slowly growing wings as he came to at the abandoned warehouse. his metal arm twitches under the vice grip unconsciously wanting to touch it, thinking about how the arm's sensors would register the feathers' texture. its small, the wings, stretches just the same as sam's stature, and only visible because of the short gust of wind from the outside that makes the long primaries sway. bucky knows sam is hiding it.
it took a second or two before sam decides to take the front seat of the car and bucky is exposed so closely to sam's wings. its still hidden, pressed tightly along the car seat and sam even seated on his primaries. bucky sees the winces and tightened jaw sam has and thinks how it must have hurt.
bucky saw first hand the way sam shed's his feathers, all soft-looking feathers slowly sway down and down to the floor. it took a lot of sam's energy to have the feathers detach from his body that he didn't notice bucky standing by the door but once he noticed, there's a primary feather on his hand, sharp and long, pointed at bucky's chest, while the other feathers gather so quickly and hid into an open duffle bag.
from that moment, sam never let his back face bucky. always facing bucky, never letting his back be in bucky's distance. always a person between them, mostly steve, and he does it so subtly that not even natasha had noticed it.
it took a handful of visit before bucky could even see a glimpse of sam's wings. granted its because they are on the run and having his wings fully grown and being used will surely get them thrown to the raft in a snap, but steve said they are trying to lie low and stay at one place for some time since sam needed to grow his wings at a certain length to easily shed it again.
they're staying at wakanda this time and bucky saw the way sam's wings grow everytime he comes with steve to visit him on his hut. his also mostly wearing same thing as him, a large piece of cloth draped meticulously and still artistically that he is covered while his back is showing to accommodate his growing wings.
the first time sam let bucky be near him without subtly maneuvering around to make steve stand between them, bucky tried so hard to act nonchalant, as if that isn't the best thing that happens to him in a while.
the first time sam turned around, his back facing bucky, it was because one of the goat tried to gnaw on sam's longer primary. he turned so quickly, scolding the goat, and turning it away, and bucky is faced with the most beautiful wings he'd ever seen. dark feathers that glints in indigo, blue, violet as the sun shines on it while some are outlined with red orange and the tips are dipped with white. iridescent and colorful, something out of the ordinary, and bucky is just staring at it, body rigid and one hand tightens in a fist, afraid that if sam notices it, he'll hide it again from bucky.
they dont talk about it. either sam didn't notice he did that or he's ticked off at himself for letting his guard down, bucky doesnt know. what bucky does know is that he'll never bring it up himself, afraid to make sam conscious about it and deprives bucky of even a peek of his colorful wings.
it happened a few times more. sam visiting bucky by himself because steve's talking with t'challa and letting his fully grown wings fall around him and bucky. sam calling him from the sky as he flies around the mountains, his wings darker than it seems but still sparkling when he tips just so and the sunlight hits it and bucky is momentarily blinded by it but never regretted looking and staring at the brightest thing he's ever seen in the sky.
sam leans onto him one time and bucky could feel one of his wings brushing his back, covering him, and bucky doesn't know what sam whispered to him and only answered a soft, breathless, "yeah, sure."
the first time bucky touched sam's wings, it was by accident.
they decide to spend steve and sam's last day in wakanda before they go on the run again with a bonfire and good food. shuri's present as well as some of the kids that like sam. even t'challa showed up a bit. ayo promised to come as well.
sam turned to get what shuri was asking for behind him, the wind picked up, and blew his longer primaries towarss the fire. bucky panicked at reached to save the feathers, clutching it on his hands and pulling it away from the fire.
it jostled sam and they turned at each other at the exact sam time.
bucky immediately let go of the feathers as if he's been burned. his mind going round and round at how this will set him back to the beginning for his privilege regarding sam's wings.
but sam says, "thanks for that. that wouldve hurt more than me detaching these myself," with a smile and bucky finally lets himself be happy on being able to touch sam's wings, even for a bit. it defies everything he's thought about the wings. it's softer, lighter, but a bit coarse too, and bucky is plagued with thoughts of when he could touch it again.
he'll just have to wait for sam to return.
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