Twice Bonded, Twice Blessed

Steve swayed gently in the shallow water with seaweed wrapped around his left wrist, anchoring him in place. It was a gorgeous, clear afternoon with barely any clouds, a perfect day to just stay put and enjoy. He was about to fall asleep in the warm water when a shadow glided over him, making him shiver. He cracked an eye open but they went wide at the sight of a massive shape making its way across the sky.

”What in the name of the Deep was that?” Bucky breathed, his gills splayed wide and his tail poised for flight.

The shadow sped past them but didn’t seem to get any smaller. It took Steve only a short moment to realize it was because it—whatever it was—was about to crash into the waves. Without another thought, he flipped over and with a strong push of his tail against the rocks, he sped away.

He had to go to it. He needed to be there when the shadow hit the water.

”Hey!” Bucky yelled behind him. ”Get back here!”

Steve didn’t bother slowing down. He knew that no matter how hard he tried to swim, it would take Bucky no time to catch up. And Bucky would catch up—his mate never failed to follow after Steve, even though he’d be grumbling under his breath the whole time.

The shadow wobbled and then took a sharp dive to the left. Steve pushed himself to go faster ignoring the strain in his gills and the ache of his tail. 

A moment later, Bucky bumped his hip against Steve’s. ”What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bucky snapped. 

”I just… feel we need to be there,” Steve said and gave Bucky a sideways glance, wondering if Bucky felt the pull like he did.

Bucky pressed his lips together and blew out a stream of annoyed bubbles. ”Fine,” he finally said. ”But you have to—”

The shadow hit the surface only partially but still sent massive shockwaves through the water. The impact felt sharp and metallic with a hint of lightning, a combination Steve had never encountered before. He slowed down slightly and cocked his head, listening.

”Steve?” Bucky asked. His voice seemed to come from far away, almost drowned out by a strange hum that beckoned Steve closer. He didn’t even realize he was moving forward when Bucky grabbed his wrist and the familiar zing of their soul bond jerked him out of the strange haze.

”Hey, careful,” Bucky said quietly. ”We don’t know what that is.”

Steve swallowed around a dry throat and nodded. ”It seems pretty big, though.”

Slowly, they swam around the sandbank and carefully raised their heads above the surface. What they saw made no sense and they sank back under the surface to give each other a bewildered look.

It was a man. With metallic wings.

”That’s… different,” Bucky muttered.

”Yeah,” Steve said. The pull in his chest was stronger now and he crept forward again, breaking the surface without a splash. He pushed the water out of his gills and forced air into his lungs as quietly as possible and winced as his first breath was a loud, wet rasp.

The man was sprawled on the ground, on his side at an awkward angle. Blood trickled down his forehead and he had what looked like a beginning of a huge bruise on his cheek. The metallic wings—the shape they’d seen, Steve guessed—were still partially attached to his torso with a leather harness with wires and tubes crisscrossing across his upper body, connected to a bright, blue sphere in the center of his chest. He was unmoving and unconscious, but breathing.

As if in a trance, Steve slowly moved forward and out of the water, dragging himself forward with his hands. He heard Bucky let out a strangled sound and then curse softly before he followed Steve.

Up close the man was beautiful with tanned skin and dark hair. He had a meticulously shaped beard under a straight nose and a wide array of laughter lines around his eyes. Steve reached forward and was about to touch his hair when Bucky tugged at his tail. 

”Are you insane? Don’t touch him!” He hissed.

Irritated, Steve flapped his tail. He couldn’t explain it but there was something… compelling about the man. He stretched to see the device better and, doing so, bumped the man’s limp arm down from his belly. It fell to the ground with a splat and Steve held his breath, sure that the man would wake up. 

But he didn’t.

And then he saw it. Right there, on the wrist of the strange man, was a partial mark. It swirled in an elegant curve as if reaching out toward something but never finding it. It was achingly familiar because an almost identical partial mark had been on his and Bucky’s wrists since they’d been born. 

This man carried their soul mark.

”Look!” Steve whispered and pointed. 

”That’s impossible,” Bucky said flatly, staring at the mark. 

”He belongs to us!” Steve insisted. He tugged Bucky’s hand closer and positioned their wrists on each side of the man’s wrist, pointing sharply at the symbol split in three. ”See? It’s whole now.”

Bucky scowled. ”It doesn’t mean anything. He’s human, right? Humans don’t have soul marks, everyone knows that.”

Steve set his jaw. ”This human does,” he said, stubborn. ”And I’m going to prove it to you.” Without further ado, he gripped Bucky’s hand and pressed their wrists against the man’s.

”Steve—” Bucky started but snapped his mouth shut at the same time Steve felt the soul bond snap into place.

The man let out a wounded sound and his eyes went wide as he drew in a ragged breath. ”Gaah! What happened? Did I fall? Did I die? Please tell me nobody kissed me!” A bit wobbly, he pushed himself to sit up and blinked owlishly at Steve and Bucky as they scrambled back. ”I’m dead,” he said matter-of-factly. ”I’m dead but I guess that’s fine because I have two gorgeous semi-nude men staring at me.” Then he paused and cocked his head. ”Although it’s not as fine if they want to eat me,” he said slowly.

”We’re not going to eat you!” Steve said, bewildered.

”You’re not?” The man seemed oblivious to the fact that Steve and Bucky’s tails were in full display. Perhaps he had hit his head when he crashed?

”Of course not,” Bucky snorted. ”You seem way too stringy.”

”Excuse you, I’m fit,” the man said, slightly offended. ”I need to be to be able to fly.”

”You won’t be flying anywhere with those wings,” Bucky pointed out dryly. ”And how do you fly with them anyway? They’re metal and not a part of you.”

Something about the man’s expression closed off and he shrugged. ”I know.”

”What’s your name?” Steve asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence. 

”Tony.”

Steve offered him a wide grin. ”Hi Tony! My name is Sthenelaus, but you can call me Steve. The grumpy one,” he jerked his head at Bucky, ”is Bucky.”

Tony nodded slowly. ”Hi Steve. Hi Bucky. Ah…you have quite a lot of sharp teeth?”

”Is that a problem?” Bucky scowled and crossed his arms on his chest, clearly put off by Tony’s reaction to the comment about his wings.

”Well…” Tony blinked a couple of times and tilted his head. ”I mean, considering you aren’t human, I guess not. I’m still not sure you’re not going to eat me though. You have the teeth for it.”

”For the last time, we’re not going to eat you!” Steve exclaimed, ignoring Bucky’s flat, ”Yeah, picking your stringy tendons from between our teeth would be too much of a trouble.” 

”You’re our soulmate!”

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, frowned, and then settled with, ”Huh?”

”Soul-mate,” Bucky articulated.

Tony blinked a couple of times and then slowly said, ”Yeah… No, still not getting it.”

”Your wrist,” Steve said, tapping his own mark with a finger. ”It bears the partial mark just like ours. Our people usually have half of a mark but…” his voice trailed away and he gave a small, self-conscious shrug. ”I guess some people thought that with me being sickly and kind of a useless runt, I deserved only a partial mark. Nobody really could explain why Bucky had a partial, too.”

”Well, that’s just stupid,” Tony scoffed. 

From the corner of his eye, Steve saw Bucky’s tail twitch and knew he was ready to jump on Tony. ”Bucky—” he started under his breath but was cut short by Tony.

”I mean, you’re gorgeous! If you’re sickly, I have no idea what healthy means for your people. Or, well, I guess I have no idea in general about your people because you’re the first ones I’ve ever met. Ha! Sucks to be you, Obie, I was right after all. I knew I was, of course, but the lack of evidence did make my claim a bit of a moot point—”

”What?” Steve squeaked. None else but Bucky had ever called him gorgeous and now this fascinating, beautiful man did just so.

”What?” Tony asked, then blinked. ”Oh, right. See, this acquaintance—or he was more like a father figure until he tried to kill me to get his grabby hands on my inventions—he claimed merpeople didn’t exist and that all evidence is just simply altered seal and whale skeletons. But it doesn’t make any sense, I told him, the bone structure is wrong and besides, your migratory patterns differ from—”

With Steve still flabbergasted by Tony’s words, Bucky rolled his eyes and scooted forward to grab Tony’s flailing hand in his own. Immediately, Tony fell silent and his eyes took a vacant look as the soul bond overwhelmed him. A moment later, Bucky let go, his lips drawn to a smug smirk.

”What is that?” Tony said in an almost reverent whisper.

”That’s our soul bond,” Bucky answered. ”And we’re still missing the third link.” He reached out for Steve but stopped when Tony flinched.

”I—” he started, and something vulnerable flickered across his face. ”Are you sure this is a good idea? I’m not like you I can’t—”

Bucky shrugged. ”I don’t know. It just happens. We all have the mark and the people with matching marks belong together. They’re soulmates. It’s meant to be.”

”But…it doesn’t make any sense,” Tony said weakly.

”No, it doesn’t,” Bucky said bluntly. ”Doesn’t change the fact you carry our mark.” 

He didn’t wait for another protest but grabbed a hold of Tony’s hand again, holding out his free hand to Steve who took it and then reached out for Tony’s other hand. As soon as he closed the link, Steve was almost overwhelmed by the wave of new sensations and swirling feelings bubbling under his new mate’s skin. He saw exuberant joy, a sharp wit, and a mind so brilliant he was having difficulties comprehending the limits of it, but also crippling loneliness and betrayal that made his heart ache. 

And sadness. Oh, the great Deep, the sadness. It filled him and threatened to drown him under and Steve decided there and then that he’d do everything in his power to make sure his mate would never feel unworthy or unloved again.

”Um… You’re growling,” Tony said. ”Why are you growling?” 

Steve’s eyes snapped open and he gave Tony a look of such fierce determination that the other man would’ve taken a step back if he’d ben able to. ”You,” Steve said. ”You’ll never have to feel that way again. Never. I promise you.”

”Okay,” Tony said. ”Not to disrespect but I don’t think I’ve ever been this afraid and turned on in my life.”

Beside Steve, Bucky sighed and even without looking, Steve knew he rolled his eyes. ”You better get used to it, flyboy,” Bucky said. ”It’s his thing.”

Irritated, Steve flapped his tail and didn’t miss the way Tony’s eyes darted to track the movement. He flapped his tail again and raised a brow at his new mate’s expression.

”Come on,” he said. ”Let’s go for a swim.”

They’d have time to figure out the rest later. But right now, Steve wanted to take his new mate for a ride.