He's drowning.
It's simple. Easy.
The water floods his lungs and constricts his chest.
Only... only it's not water.
It's voices. People are talking to him. The Avengers are talking to him. For the past few days they've been trying to get him to go outside.
"-Know you missed-"
"-Date-"
"-Friday sound good?-"
But he can't speak because suddenly he's looking at her. With her red dress and brown locks and beautiful eyes and accent that drove him wild. Suddenly the room is constricting. Faster and faster it starts spinning until he's suffocating. He wants to scream but he can't because there's no air in his lungs.
"-Fall-"
Fall. Fall.
Bucky's fall.
He hears the scream ringing in his ears and he can't help but take a raspy breath because it's all too much.
I'm here and they're gone...
He bolts from the room and feels tears sting the back of his eyes. He wants to die. He grabs the tiny blade he keeps in his shoe at all times and starts down the floors, not realizing that he's sobbing.
Today he was going to do what should have been done seventy years ago.
He flew through the city as fast as he could, Getting to the Brooklyn Bridge faster than any man ever could. He stands atop the wire, staring into the ocean below, and makes the cut in his wrist. First one arm, then the other. Taking a deep breath, all he thinks is "I'm Sorry." and stretches out his arms and starts falling backward.
The air whizzes past him in a way that's almost painful, but he doesn't care, because he's free. He's finally free.
He hits the water with a splash and doesn't open his eyes to watch the water turn crimson with blood. He's free. He's safe.
A pair of metal arms tries to grab him. He fights to stave them off. He wants to scream "Let me die in peace!" but he can't. So he sucks up a lung full of water, hoping to drown since he's too weak to fight from blood loss.
"Hang in there, Steve." Comes a voice. And he cries.
He cries because he doesn't want to hang in there. It's hanging in there that trapped him in this futuristic prison in the first place. He sobs as Iron Man loads him into an ambulance, and he struggles feebly to free himself.
"Let me die, God, please let me die." He prays, crying. Bruce and Natasha are in the ambulance looking at him with heartbreak and anguish, but he doesn't see them.
All he sees is Bucky falling. All he hears is Peggy telling him to not be late for their date. And he cries.
Because he couldn't die in peace tonight.