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In retrospect, Steve should have asked about what complications Bucky’s classes were covering that week before telling his boyfriend his desire to run a 5K that summer. If he’d thought to do as much, he would have known in advance that Bucky’d had to do a case report on sudden cardiac death in runners, and would have put off requesting ideas for a training plan for a couple of weeks. But Steve had been excited to share the news now that he’d made his mind up, so he’d brought it up immediately when he had gotten home from work that afternoon. In the end Bucky’s pleas that he get a cardiac clearance first had gotten so desperate that it wasn’t worth arguing against.
The appointment with his cardiologist had been a bit awkward – she had discharged him from care over two years prior, saying that between his recovery from the surgery and his increased strength and aerobic capabilities, Steve’s primary care doctor should be perfectly capable of following him from there on out. Once he’d explained his reasons for scheduling, though… leaving out the details about the mildly paranoid boyfriend and instead focusing on his hope of being able to run a race and wanting to be cautious before he made such a drastic change to his activity levels, she had been more than happy to get him set up with the appropriate evaluations.
That week was filled with the usual battery of tests and the uncomfortably familiar dance of visiting different departments in the hospital on a daily basis, having blood drawn and echocardiograms performed and finally the exercise stress test. But – unlike his memories of considerably darker days, the tech running the ultrasound machine didn’t look at him like he was dying as she performed the echo, and he was actually able to stick with the exercise test until the very end of the session, even jogging for a while on the treadmill; a far cry from the week five years prior that ended in Dr. Cho telling Steve and his mom that he needed yet another surgery, when he’d barely been able walk on an incline for three minutes.
He’d gone back for follow-up with Dr. Cho on the following Monday, who met him with a broad smile as she flipped through his results. “Your echocardiogram is basically the same as it was when I saw you last: the ejection fraction is still a little bit below what we’d call normal but given where we started before your surgery, it’s better than I could have hoped for. And from the looks of it the stress test went beautifully, although I suppose that isn’t exactly a surprise. Are you still seeing the trainer?”
Steve ducked his head; although the results were exactly what he’d expected, he was so unaccustomed to getting good news at the doctor’s office that he still felt an uncomfortable rush of emotion over it. After composing himself he couldn’t help but smile and nod in regards to Bucky. “Er – yeah. Well, he’s about to be a physical therapist, actually, he’ll be graduating in the spring, but…” his brain caught up with his mouth, reminding him that she was asking about his exercising, not his love life. As usual, he’d been so amped up to brag about Bucky that he’d not thought before he spoke. “Yeah, we still go to the gym four days a week.” He finished lamely, trying his best to hide how mortified he felt.
Doctor Cho gave him a kind grin, “Well tell him congratulations, and keep up the good work,” she said softly, as if she knew exactly why Steve reacted the way he had. “I’m also,” she continued, flipping the page in his chart and quickly jotting her signature at the bottom of it, “officially going to clear you to start a running program. I think, given your performance on the stress test, jogging a 5K is totally reasonable – just make sure that you train adequately for it and don’t try to overexert yourself.”
“I won’t,” Steve had responded with a grin of his own, accepting the clearance with trembling hands, suddenly so excited that he couldn’t bother being embarrassed about his previous slip up anymore. “And I will, we’ll definitely go easy and work our way up to it. Just… thank you. Thanks so much.”
“You’re welcome,” Doctor Cho responded with a smile to match, rising from her chair and offering her hand to shake. “And I think that Doctor Erskine will be more than capable of following you from here on out. Good luck with everything, Steve – no offense, but I hope that we never have to see each other again.”
“None taken,” Steve responded with a short laugh, jumping to his own feet and shaking her hand briefly; it had been the same parting the doctor had given him the last time she had discharged him from her care, and he was all too happy to do his best to comply.
The clearance had been good enough for Bucky to finally relax about the idea, and they’d drafted up a training plan that night. Thankfully Steve had built up enough strength in their four years of regular gym-going that neither of them was too concerned about his back or joints acting up with the increase in mileage on them. His flat feet were a potential issue, but Bucky had made him a pair of orthotics while learning how to fit them in class as a Christmas present a couple of years prior – so far they had held up to the limited amount of cardio that was already tacked onto his workouts, so they both had hope that they’d let him add a couple of extra miles on as well.
Steve’s biggest challenge, of course, was going to be his heart and lungs; Bucky wouldn’t come out and say that he was nervous about both of them, but Steve didn’t miss the fact that he regularly seemed to carry an inhaler on his person when they went to the gym, or that he made a habit out of holding Steve’s wrist for a while after anytime that they had a run that wasn’t on a treadmill with a heart monitor. It grated on him on bad days – Steve had always taken issue with being treated like an invalid – but he also appreciated Bucky’s help enough that he let it slide.
Besides, he was hardly going to blow up on his boyfriend for insisting on holding hands while they walked on their cool-down. Steve was stubborn, but he wasn’t an asshole.
As with most changes to their routine, Bucky had insisted that they start in the weight room – reducing the weight that Steve lifted back to nothing but increasing the number and intensity of all his repetitions. His circuits became faster and more complicated, and with time the stationary bike was included as well, on Bucky’s insistence that they build up his aerobic endurance without a huge increase in repetitive pounding. After a month of training, they made their way to Prospect Park on a Saturday morning for Steve’s first long run. The good news was that Steve was able to jog a full mile without stopping for the first time in his life.
The bad news was that he’d barely been able to get out of bed the next morning.
Bucky changed up the plan again, and made a huge to-do about post-run stretching… to the point that Steve started to feel like they were doing more yoga than they were actual running on most days. But – Bucky was always there posing right along with Steve, so at least the view made it worth the embarrassment of trying to bend and stretch in so many awkward positions.
As with everything they tended to do together, Steve found the running getting progressively easier. It took another full month for them to finally work up to running two consecutive miles, which made Steve infinitely glad that they’d planned training out as early as they had. With more than half of the race distance finally under his belt and Bucky’s class schedules starting to calm down they set themselves to picking out a race date.
“The Front Runners are hosting a Pride Run at the end of June…” Bucky had mentioned one night, before typing quickly on his laptop and sending Steve the link to the race on GChat.
“Ugh, Central Park,” Steve groaned, wrinkling his nose as he went back to flipping through race lists on his iPad. Bucky snorted, but otherwise didn’t push the race. “Oh – there’s one raising money for pediatric heart disease at the end of May!”
Steve shifted on the couch so that he was sprawled on Bucky’s chest as soon as his boyfriend had moved his laptop, fully anticipating the move. Steve couldn’t help but appreciate the symbolism and the charity that the race supported, plus it looked like it would be a considerably smaller field and had a walking component to it as well – meaning his pride was less likely to suffer coming in last place than if they went for a larger race in the city.
Bucky worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he read over the details, before pointing out calmly, “That’s only two weeks after graduation…”
“Yeah, but it’s still six weeks away,” Steve rejoined, his guts twisting in anticipation over Bucky’s rejection. “I mean; unless you don’t think I’ll be ready in time…”
“No, that isn’t it,” Bucky responded firmly, pulling his gaze away from the iPad and pressing a quick kiss to Steve’s temple. “Please, I have no doubt you’ll be ready, regardless of when we pick.” He looked down at the date again before taking a deep breath and giving Steve a smile. “Alright – you wanna sign up for this one, then?”
There was definitely still something off about Bucky’s tone, but Steve didn’t want to push the point; something about this race just felt right, and as long as he wasn’t outright refusing it, Steve was going to take the agreement for what it was. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do it.”
Their training continued on the same course it had been going, with Bucky gradually increasing the distance on their runs and the length of their workouts and Steve pushing himself to keep up with them, until his body would finally call uncle and start to adapt to the program. He sincerely doubted that running would ever be easy, per say, or that he’d ever feel the need to run another race in his life, but Steve counted the fact that it was becoming progressively less painful as a win.
The end of April brought with it even more challenges – between the planning and ceremonies and parties, it felt like all of their free time was taken up by either training or graduation events. Not that Steve was complaining; after how hard he’d watched Bucky work over the years, he was ecstatic to see his boyfriend’s goals coming to fruition, and endlessly thankful that he’d been able to land a job before graduation. Bucky practically glowed when he told people about his plans to start people about his plans to start with the local pediatric spine specialists at the end of June, and Steve knew he wasn’t much better.
The fact that they would be spared the stress of job hunting and have a month to actually enjoy some time off in each other’s company for a change was an added bonus.
In all of the excitement of graduation – between the celebrations with Bucky’s family and the celebrations with their friends and of course their private celebrations at home – the day of the race had managed to sneak up on them. In reality, it was a blessing; they’d both been religious about keeping up with the training plan, but it wasn’t until they were getting ready for bed the night before the run that Steve was really able to freak out about it.
“C’mon Stevie, we both need to sleep,” Bucky said quietly from where he’d already crawled under the covers.
Steve sighed, checking the safety pins on his bib one final time before nodding and making his way towards the bed. “I know,” he responded, stepping out of his pajama pants and folding them over the footboard before sliding onto his side as well. “Did you set the alarm?” He asked as he took his glasses off and set them carefully on the side table in their usual position.
“Yup, six a.m.” Bucky responded cheerily, chuckling as Steve groaned in response. “Hey, this was your idea, buddy, and we need to have plenty of time to eat breakfast and get over there.”
“I know,” Steve huffed, although he couldn’t help smiling as he settled down into his pillow and snuggled closer to Bucky.
Bucky waited until Steve had finished shifting around before he reached behind him and flicked the lamp off, plunging the room into darkness as he settled down as well, draping his arm gently across Steve’s waist. “You nervous?” He murmured into the dark after a few moments of silence.
It was on the tip of Steve’s tongue to deny it, but there was no point in lying, especially not to Bucky who would probably see through it anyway. “Kinda,” Steve whispered, licking his lips as he thought about the next day. On one hand he was excited – they’d both worked hard for this, and he’d been able to run the distance a couple of times with relative ease; plus their friends and family had all expressed interest in coming out to cheer for them, so seeing the whole group again so soon after Bucky’s graduation would be great.
But at the same time, he couldn’t help the gnawing feeling that something might go wrong, that he’d bitten off more than he could chew, that he’d end up letting all of them down.
“Well, you shouldn’t be.” Bucky said matter-of-factly, his fingertips tracing mindless, feather-light patterns against Steve’s hipbone. “You’ve worked your ass off, you’re gonna be awesome tomorrow.”
From anyone else the words would have sounded like meaningless platitudes, but Steve couldn’t help relaxing as Bucky said them. It didn’t get rid of his anxiety entirely, of course, and he was sure that the feelings would be back in full-force by morning… but Bucky had never given Steve any reason to doubt him, especially not when it came to assessing his abilities. The race might not go exactly as they’d planned, but Steve was going to finish it, damn it – and for him, that was accomplishment enough.
“Thanks Buck,” he murmured, turning into his embrace and pressing a kiss to his breastbone, before tucking his head underneath Bucky’s chin. “Love you,” he added with a yawn.
“I love you too,” Bucky answered softly. “G’night.”
It took a while to finally fall asleep, but somehow Steve was finally able to put his nerves aside and drift off. Unfortunately, it didn’t make the blare of the alarm the next morning any less unpleasant.
Despite the fact that they’d been making sure to go for early runs every weekend in preparation, it had still been a battle to get out of bed and into his running gear the next morning. Bucky somehow managed to con him into splitting a bagel with peanut butter and a banana, but Steve wasn’t with it enough to really understand what was going on until they were half-way to Prospect Park and Bucky was shoving a bottle of Gatorade at him.
By the time they made it to the starting area and saw the runners gathered, though, they were both awake enough for the nerves to really set in. Bucky put a brave face on when they bumped into his parents amongst the spectators, insisting that they’d both do great when his mom pointed out that she hadn’t seen him this excited for a run since he’d run in the city cross country finals in high school, swearing up and down that he was confident in their training and certain that neither of them would have any problems with the race.
Once his family had left and Bucky had made his way into the starting corrals with Steve, though, it was a different story. “I really, really don’t mind pacing you, Steve,” he insisted for at least the twentieth time.
Steve knelt down to take a deep breath and double-knot his shoe laces before he blew up at him.
“I know you don’t, Buck,” he finally responded as he stood again, “and I appreciate all you’ve done for me, babe, I really do. But…” he gave Bucky a wry smirk, “I’m pretty sure Sam and Riley are expecting brunch out of this for dragging them out so early on a Sunday, so the best thing you could do is get out there and win so we have some prize money to put towards it. I sure as hell won’t be in the winner’s circle.”
Bucky chuckled at his joke, at least, and looked like he was considering making an argument, but instead chewed on his lip for a moment. “Alright,” he finally agreed quietly, before placing his hands on both of Steve’s shoulders, “okay, fine – I’ll go line up out front. Just… just remember what we talked about, yeah? Remember your pacing, and don’t get too carried away at the start…”
“I know, Bucky,” Steve cut him off exasperatedly.
“And don’t feel like you can’t drop out if you need to, okay? We’re all so proud of you already, Stevie, you don’t gotta finish or run a certain time to be a hero.”
Under any other circumstances, from any other person, Steve would have been offended by Bucky’s words, but as he looked up into his wide blue eyes all that Steve could see was concern and love, and he couldn’t exactly get angry for that. “I promise I’ll be careful, Bucky. I’ll see you at the finish, alright?”
Bucky stared at him for a couple seconds longer, before swallowing and nodding tightly. “Yeah… yeah, alright,” he finally said hoarsely, ducking down to press a quick kiss to the side of Steve’s mouth. “I love you, punk. Have a good run.”
“Love you too, Buck,” Steve responded softly, before glancing to the start line as he heard the race martial call out for any runners planning on running six minute splits or better. “Now get up there and kick some ass, okay? We didn’t budget for feeding an army this month.”
Bucky gave him a winning smile, leaning in for one more kiss before giving Steve a sarcastic salute and jogging towards the group at the start line. Steve did his best to ignore the way he kept looking back, and instead set himself to stretching out before the corral got too full to move. He was in the middle of stretching his hamstrings, his eyes blankly scanning the sidelines, when he caught a glimpse of the face he’d been subconsciously searching for grinning and waving him over.
Steve sprung to his feet as gracefully as he could before jogging over to his Ma, completely unashamed when she pulled him into a tight hug over the barrier. It was awkward given the height of the gate, and even more-so because with Sarah Rogers standing on the curb and Steve on the pavement she was taller than him for the first time since he’d started high school, but he still found himself relaxing in her hold.
“I’m so proud of you, baby,” she murmured against his hair, giving Steve’s shoulders one final squeeze before releasing him and standing back. “You’ve worked so hard, and come such a long way…”
“I know,” Steve responded thickly, swallowing down his emotion as well as he could as her eyes filled with tears.
“Just… promise me you’ll be careful, Steven. Listen to your body; the fact that you’re doing this at all is a miracle, there’s no shame if you have to walk, or if you can’t finish it.”
“I’ll be alright, Mama, I promise,” Steve responded dutifully. “Bucky and I have it all planned out, and we’ve ran the course a couple of times now… I know what I’m doing.”
“I know you do,” she said proudly, before the announcer interrupted them to call the runners to their appropriate starting positions.
“I’ll see you here in half an hour,” he promised cheerily, giving her one more quick hug before wading through the crowd of other runners and taking his place in the middle of the pack.
Steve caught sight of Becca and her kids in the middle of the pre-race announcements, and laughed as they both went nuts over his wave, bouncing around a set of adorable, childish signs they’d made to cheer on Steve and Bucky. The national anthem was played, and then finally the countdown to the start – and suddenly an air horn went off and they began slowly shuffling towards the start line. Steve felt his heart pounding in his chest in anticipation, but thankfully he was far enough back in the corrals that he had a few moments to compose himself before they were finally jogging over the start line.
The beginning of the race was intense – Steve’s eyes darted around the road in front of him, his brain acutely aware of the crush of runners lumbering on all of his sides. Of course, the vast majority of the racers were considerably larger than him… he couldn’t help regretting telling Bucky to go ahead; as much as he hated to admit it, Steve would have felt considerably safer with him at his side. But there was nothing he could do about it now, so instead he focused on keeping up with the pack and watching out for the mass of legs and arms pumping around him.
As they reached the first mile-marker, the crowd finally began to thin out, with the majority of the runners either running faster ahead of Steve or dropping back to walk. He was able to breathe easier without the worry of getting taken out by another runner, but as he glanced down at the timer on his watch Steve felt his stomach bottom out – his first mile had been barely over nine minutes, over a full minute faster than he and Bucky had planned. He immediately slowed up, breathing deeply through his nose and trying not to panic as his legs finally found their usual, more sedate pace.
His eyes started scanning the crowd as he approached the half-way turn, and despite how winded he was Steve couldn’t hold back his grin as he caught sight of Sam and Riley exactly where they’d promised they would be waiting. He raised his arm and started to call out to them, but before he could make a sound Sam’s eyes had met his and he’d grinned right back, smacking Riley excitedly as he started jumping up and down and yelling. “STEVE!! You’re looking awesome, buddy! Keep up the pace, you’re killin’ it!!!”
Riley had yelled something as well, but had spent the majority of the short time Steve jogged by them snapping as many pictures as he could. Steve tried his best to scowl in response, but he was still so jacked up from the run and happy to see them there that he was pretty sure he’d failed.
Unfortunately, as he ran out of the range of Sam’s cheering voice, things got considerably harder for Steve. He was able to keep up his pace until he got to the two mile marker, where his watch said 19:40 – still considerably faster than he’d planned for, but at least closer to the 10:30 splits that he and Bucky had planned.
And then the hill had happened, and it all went to hell.
Even though the race didn’t require them to actually summit Lookout Hill, and even though they had run it at least a dozen times during their training, Steve began to really feel the effects of the run as he plodded up the incline. He was so angry at himself for not following his plan that he had half a mind to just walk the damned thing, when a flash of red hair came pelting through the grass from the outer path.
“Steve!” Natasha Romanoff’s voice called out, as she jogged up next to him with an uncharacteristic smile. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m fine… I’m good.” Steve panted, swallowing down his previous frustration and putting his energy into keeping up his strides.
He knew that Nat could run considerably faster than she was, but couldn’t bring himself to feel angry as she jogged easily along with him, making small-talk about her morning and mentioning how good his form looked. “Are you past the half-way point, yet?” She asked innocently.
Steve breathed deeply through his nose; he was pretty certain that she had probably looked up the route ahead of time to avoid runners and knew damned well where he was on the course, but she was the last person he wanted to offend, especially in the shape that he was in. Besides – the distraction had been nice, especially now as he realized that the grade of the pavement had evened out again. “Yeah,” he finally huffed, “yeah, about two and a half miles now, I think.
“Awesome,” she responded brightly, “well… I’d better get back on the outer loop before they yell at me for being on the course – keep up the good work!”
And just as quickly as she’d appeared, Natasha sprinted back towards the periphery of the park. Steve made a mental note to thank her at some point in the weeks to come, once his body had recovered from the race and he was ready to get back to the gym again.
Steve’s lungs were burning as he passed the three mile marker – he had definitely started too fast, but he was so close to finishing that he could hear the crowds yelling; there was no way he could stop now. Pushing his legs to continue he made his way around the next corner, only to have the street open up in front of him to reveal the finish line a hundred meters away. Just like that the adrenaline kicked in, and Steve’s legs took off on their own accord, his entire body feeling numb with anticipation as he approached, and then finally crossed, the finish line.
A group of volunteers immediately greeted him to slip a medal over his head, but Steve barely spared a glance at it, instead scanning through the crowded sidelines, looking for anyone in their group. Before he was able to make out any familiar faces, he was pulled into a tight hug. Steve’s entire body tightened on instinct, coiling against the attack, but within a second the familiar scent of sweat and home and Bucky hit his brain. He slumped into Bucky’s solid chest, his arms coming up to cling around his waist as Bucky murmured harshly in his ear, “I’m so fuckin’ proud of you, Stevie.”
A choked sob escaped Steve’s mouth as it all actually hit him – he’d done it. He’d actually run a race, all on his own power, with his friends and his family and his lover there to see it… luckily the morning was getting to be hot enough that Bucky had worked up a decent sweat during his run, so when Steve finally pulled his face out of his shirt the tears weren’t that obvious. He looked up at Bucky with a watery grin of his own, before surging up on his toes and pressing a deep, grateful kiss to his lips. It was cut woefully short by how out of breath Steve still was, but Bucky still looked a little dazed when they separated, his goofiest, sappiest smile still firmly in place.
They stood there holding each other for at least a minute, stealing a few more happy kisses and totally ignoring the bustle and cheers of the crowd and finishers still mulling about around them, before Bucky blinked and broke the spell.
“Here, c’mere – we need to get out of the way of the finish shoot,” he said suddenly, looking around shiftily before stepping out of Steve’s embrace, grabbing blindly for his hand and pulling Steve towards an area where the barriers widened into a pocket. Instead of leading them out of the corral, though, Bucky stopped in the middle of the open space, turning around and facing Steve as he grabbed his other hand as well.
It took a second – Steve was still a little disoriented from his adrenaline rush and Bucky’s greeting, but two things suddenly stood out to him: Bucky’s hands were shaking in his grip, something that Steve hadn’t noticed while they were holding each other earlier, and their entire group was crowded together a few feet away on the opposite side of the barrier. “Bucky… what’re you doing?” Steve asked breathlessly, his heart starting to pound again as he realized that Buck was definitely up to something.
Bucky chewed on his bottom lip viciously, before taking a deep breath and giving Steve a soft smile. “Stevie, listen… these past few years, they’ve been a lot of work, and there have been a lot of really hard times, but they’ve been the happiest time of my life, you know? Just – being with you,” he swallowed thickly and shook his head, looking down at their sneakers for a second before shaking himself and looking at Steve again. “You always make my day brighter. Even on the shittiest days, even when I’m totally doubting myself; I know I’ve got you in my corner, and just… it makes things okay.”
All that Steve could do was nod stupidly up at Bucky, his eyes completely transfixed as his brain struggled to process what was going on. He was sure that his heart was pounding even harder than it had during the run, because this was really starting to sound like…
“And I think… I’d like to believe that it’s been good for you, too. It’s like – from the very beginning we’ve been good at working together, at making one another better. I’m pretty damn sure I never would have made it this far if I hadn’t been inspired by you in the first place, and without your support…”
“You would’ve,” Steve croaked in interruption, completely sure of it. He never had been able to decide if it was that Bucky was too hard on himself, or just bound and determined to give Steve more credit than he deserved.
“Maybe,” Bucky responded with a short, choked laugh, dropping his eyes to their hands again. “But… it would’ve been miserable, I think. I know it wouldn’t’ve been half as good as it was with you. And I guess – I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d absolutely hate to know. I don’t even wanna think about not being with you, ever.”
He licked his lips, giving Steve’s hands a short squeeze before dropping them and reaching into the pocket of his running shorts… and oh God, Steve couldn’t breathe as he watched Bucky fumbling awkwardly before finally pulling a small velvet box out and sinking down to his knee. “Buck…” he wheezed, covering his mouth with shaking hands and doing everything in his power not to start bawling like a baby.
“So, um… I guess what I’m trying to say is…” Bucky started, his lips quivering and his steel blue eyes huge and wet as he looked up at Steve like he was the most precious thing on the planet, “Steve Rogers, will you marry me?”
Steve was still having trouble breathing properly, so for the moment verbally responding was out of the question. Instead he just stood there, staring down with wide eyes at the polished silver band that Bucky was holding out to him. He couldn’t even hear the crowds around them anymore – just the roar of white noise in his ears as he vaguely realized the prickling sensation of shock running down his back and legs.
“Stevie?” Bucky asked a lifetime later, his voice sounding nervous as he searched Steve’s face with his eyes. “Um… an answer would be great. The pavement’s not exactly nice on my knee.”
“Yes,” Steve finally blurted out, his hands barely an inch away from his mouth now as all of his senses came rushing back to him. “Bucky, God, yes…” Before he could stand completely, Steve grabbed Bucky by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, smashing their lips together inelegantly then immediately deepening the kiss. Bucky kissed back like his life depended on it, pulling Steve even closer against him as he wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.
When they finally came up for air, Steve was vaguely aware of the fact that Sam and Riley and a few of Bucky’s friends were wolf-whistling at them from the sidelines, and he glanced across the street to flip them off - only to lock eyes with his mother, who he realized with a jolt had happy tears running down her face. Before he could move to sign something to her, a gentle thumb wiped away tears that Steve hadn’t even noticed were running down his own cheeks.
He looked back to Bucky, who was still grinning so hard that it looked like it had to hurt. “Come on, pal,” Buck said thickly, carefully taking Steve’s left hand in his own and sliding the ring on his fourth finger (it took a second, given how hard they were both still shaking) before slinging an arm around Steve’s shoulders and turning him towards the exit of the finish corrals. “Let’s get you some water and a banana then get out of here, before our parents get arrested for jumping the barriers to take pictures.”
The next hour was a blur of congratulations and hugs and more happy tears, as their friends and family mobbed them the second they stepped into the meet-up area. It seemed like everyone had gotten video or pictures of either the finish or Bucky’s proposal itself; for the first time in his life, Steve was ecstatic that Riley had busted out his damned camera without asking for Steve’s permission first. And of course everyone bugged Steve about seeing the ring – well, everyone outside of the kids, who were far more interested in his tacky finisher’s medal than a simple engagement band.
As far as best days ever went, it was going to be damned hard to top that morning; but as Bucky found his way back through the crowd with a blinding smile and a gentle arm around Steve’s shoulder, stealing another quick kiss before calling out to the group that they should probably start making their way towards the diner if they were going to make their brunch reservation, he was overwhelmed with the feeling that they’d eventually find a way. And he was damned excited for the opportunity to have a lifetime to find out.