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Till’ The End Of The Line

@rusted-soldier

18 ☆ She/Her/Hers ☆ Lesbian

I’m a devout believer in the love story of Steve and Bucky’s dog tags. They exchanged them like wedding rings in the war so they’d never be apart, always carrying a piece of the other.

When Bucky fell, they were all Steve had left of him. He held them close as he crashed into the Arctic, and as he froze, knew they’d be together soon. HYDRA didn’t let Bucky keep his tags, of course, but he put up a fight like no other when they took them.

When Steve woke up, everyone was confused why he had someone else’s tags, but never pressed him on it. They replaced Steve’s tags, but despite being etched with his name, he knew they truly belonged to Bucky.

When Bucky came back into his life as the Winter Soldier, Steve treasured his tags even more; they weren’t just a reminder of simpler times, but of his hope of getting Bucky back, too.

When they came back together, Steve gave Bucky his own tags once more as a reminder that he was safe and loved. Bucky didn’t know the depths of what they once meant at first, but it came back, slowly like the waves etching the shape of the coast, bit by bit.

They still wear them, a reminder of their love, and the tether of their souls that will always bring them back to each other, through thick and thin, life and death, and all that has ever tried to pull them apart. Their love will always triumph, and their dog tags tell that story.

Thinking about how Steve must have felt the first time Bucky felt safe enough to be unarmed in their apartment; he usually carries around a knife up his sleeve or in his thigh holster - both on bad days - but then one morning Steve sees that Bucky left them on the bedside table and found him in the kitchen getting breakfast for Alpine, trusting that no one will hurt him here.

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