Raising Hybrid Puppies [a Starker coffee shop AU]

Chapter 19

Bruce collides with Bucky's back as the man stops dead right in front of the door to the entrance hall.

"No," Bucky gasps, "I can't do this."

He paws at his collar and flees from the hallway yet Bruce is already moving after him, stopping Sam doing the same with a quick gesture.

He finds Bucky in the office they turned into a changing room, unbuttoning his dress uniform with shaking hands.

"I can't do this, Bruce, I'm gonna screw this up, he's gonna hate me, we'll never make it –"

"Bucky," Bruce grabs him by the shoulders and forces him around. It's a relief when Bucky lets himself be manhandled – it means that Bruce still has a chance. "Do you remember what you said to me that night in Kandahar?"

The other man purses his lips. A muscle in his jaw twitches. "I said a lot of things in Kandahar."

"You told me about your teenage dream," Bruce clarifies, needlessly in his opinion since he can see the memory flare to life in Bucky's eyes much like the flames from the burning oil fields did back then. "You told me about the moment you knew Steve was the one for you, that you'd been planning your proposal for years at that point. Anyone else would have died on me, Bucky, but you pulled through – for Steve. Don't throw this away now, don't lose your head today. You'll see, it's gonna be perfect."

"No, no, it's different, marriage changes things –"

"Bucky," Bruce interrupts with a quiet vehemence to his tone. "You saved my life once, now let me return the favor. Put your dress blues back on, get yourself together, go out there and marry that man."

Bucky stares at him, unblinking, throat working overtime. Bruce spots the exact second his best friend's mind clears and Bruce can breathe again.

"You saved me first," Bucky pouts several moments later, surprising a laugh out of Bruce who waves it off.

"Semantics. You can save me from the punch at the reception."

The serious way that Bucky nods really does nothing to restore Bruce's belief in the safety of said punch.

When they emerge, Steve is standing next to Sam in the entrance hall of the Brooklyn community center. The open front doors provide a brilliant view of the sunny May day. The voices of the other guests, who're patiently waiting outside where Sam is going to officiate the union, are but a faint murmur. From what Bruce saw before he was plunged into Bucky-wrangling, the Neighborhood Avengers really outdid themselves with preparing the center: every surface is sparkling both inside and out; stunning floral arrangements decorate the aisle and the hall where dinner will be served.

Before that can happen, however, Bucky has some groveling to do.

From next to Steve, Natasha fixes Bucky with a glare. She cuts a dangerous figure in her Special Forces uniform and Bruce has to take a deep breath to soothe his spiking pulse. He knew it would be a highly triggering experience, being best man at a military wedding, but there's literally nothing he wouldn't do for the man who single-handedly broke him out of the Taliban's clutches (Bruce's knack for languages and talent as a field medic are more of a curse than a blessing, sometimes).

Yet if anyone had told Bruce that he'd be talking Bucky down from doing a Julia Roberts impersonation at his own wedding, he'd have asked them to lay off the drugs. Or share them.

The man in question walks up to his husband-to-be with a rueful expression.

"I'm sorry," Bucky says. "I was being stupid... but Bruce got my head on straight again."