Bucky quickly swept the room. No threats. He checked his hiding spots. All his weapons were still there, invisible but easy to access.
Finally he can sleep. He lied down and tried to sleep. He hates sleeping; it makes him feel vulnerable, but it's necessary. He closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.
He's back. Of course he's back. Bucky cursed as he realizes the location of his dream. HYDRA's torture chamber. The place where he slowly became the Winter Soldier.
But he's not alone. Because Steve is here. Bucky's veins filled with ice water when he realized what's going on.
Steve's in the chair. His wrists cuffed in and he looks scared. But this isn't the Steve who can defend himself. This is pre-serum Steve, the one Bucky remembers, with fragile bones and weak lungs.
Bucky watched in a stunned trance as Zola materialized from the gloom. He leered at Steve and filled a syringe with black tinted liquid. Zola plunged the syringe into Steve's veins and watched with interest.
Steve screamed. The sound snapped Bucky back to alertness. It was gut wrenching and Steve's anguish vibrated in Bucky's cells.
Bucky charged. Blind rage swirled in his mind. Steve was hurt, and it was Bucky's job to protect Steve.
But he couldn't. There was a glass wall separating him from Steve. He watched as Zola lowered the helmet. Bucky pounded the glass. He couldn't watch this; couldn't bear to see Steve's identity erased. Steve screamed again, a long drawn out wail of agony, and this time, Bucky joined him.
Steve was woken by JARVIS. "Mr. Rogers?"
"Yes?" Steve checked his watch to find that it was 2 AM.
"Mr. Barnes seems to require your assistance. He has been calling your name."
Bucky. Steve threw off his blankets, not caring that he was only in an undershirt and boxers. He jogged to Bucky's room and pushed open the door.
Bucky was tangled in blankets and thrashing. Steve thought about approaching him, but Bucky could get violent after a nightmare. If he hurt Steve, Bucky would only feel worse. But then Bucky rolled over and moaned "Steve" and that settled it.
Steve crossed the room and lightly shook Bucky's shoulder.
"Buck. Open your eyes. It's okay. You're safe. Wake up."
Bucky gasped as his eyes snapped open. He stared at Steve, and for one terrible moment, Steve was afraid Bucky didn't remember him.
He started to back away, worried about Bucky lashing out, when Bucky grabbed Steve's shoulders, pushed him into the mattress, and began kissing him furiously.
Steve was beyond surprised and actually wondering if either one of them was actually awake. He started to pull away, but Bucky gripped him even tighter, and Steve relaxed.
Bucky's kiss was possessive and firm, but also gentle. His hands cupped Steve's face as if he was still fragile and needed to be protected. Bucky kissed as though he could protect Steve from the world if he only kept breathing air into Steve's lungs.
Bucky finally broke for air and rolled off Steve, both of them panting and trying to collect their scattered thoughts.
"I've been wanting to do that for years." Bucky smiled, but Steve noticed the twist of agony.
"What made you finally man up?" Steve rolled to his side, propping himself up on his elbow.
Bucky assumed the same position and bit his lip. "Just a nightmare. I'm fine."
Steve hesitated. He hated to force Bucky to relieve bad memories, but it had to have been some nightmare. "Would you tell me about it? Please?"
Bucky hesitated. He kept his eyes on the wrinkled sheet. "I dreamed about the chair."
Steve's heart twisted. He wished with every fibre of his being that he had protected Bucky, jumped from that train, his own safety be dammed. But Bucky wasn't finished.
"But I wasn't the one being tortured. You were." Bucky finally looked up, and Steve sucked in a breath at the raw anguish Bucky no longer bothered to hide. "It was pre-serum you, and he was hurting you, and you were screaming, and I couldn't protect you, and I was screaming too..." Bucky trailed off and resumed his examination of the sheet.
Steve reached out to cup Bucky's face, forcing brown eyes to meet blue. "Hey look at me. I'm okay and safe. We're safe. I'm never leaving you again."
Steve paused for a moment. Was he sure? But then he remembered that it was Bucky, the person who probably knew him best in the world, and his hesitancy evaporated.
"I love you."
Shock washed over Bucky's face before Steve's mouth was claimed again. "I love you more." The words were a plea and a promise, whispered against Steve's skin. They were staying together, until the end of the line.