"Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky." Steve stopped moving. Bucky. His Bucky? His best friend, Bucky?

"What did you say?" Steve demanded, suddenly angry.

"He remembered you. I was there. He got all weepy about it. 'Til they put his brain back in the blender. He wanted you to know something. He said to me, 'please tell Rogers. When you gotta go, you gotta go." Steve's face softened. Bucky. Everything seemed to freeze.

No time for rest
No pillow for my head
Nowhere to run from this
No way to forget

He almost smiled at the thought of Bucky. Somehow, he was suddenly seeing him and Bucky in a bunch of scenarios: fighting, back to back, on the same side, in front of a large Victorian house with their arms around each other, standing at an altar, dressed in matching tuxes, kissing… the list went on. Steve knew he was in love with Bucky. He just hoped he could hide it for a little bit longer.

Around the shadows creep
Like friends they cover me
Just wanna lay me down and finally
Try to get some sleep

The torture that Bucky had endured… it wasn't fair. He'd been brainwashed, controlled, and forced to hurt people. He killed mercilessly while under HYDRA's control, and he'd even attacked Steve. His best friend. Steve knew that Buck remembered him, and hoped, in a selfish, desperate part of his mind, that he felt the same way about his friend that Steve did.

We carry on through the storm
Tired soldiers in this war
Remember what we're fighting for…

Seventy years. That's how long Steve Rogers - Captain America - had been frozen in the ice. He'd woken up and found himself in the modern day, and his first thought upon that discovery was, "I had a date." He felt so terrible. He thought the person he loved was gone forever. But he wasn't thinking about Peggy. He was only thinking of his Bucky.

His Bucky.

Meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword, your shield, your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echoes and the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything can stay the same, or we can change it all
Meet me on the battlefield…

And then the frozen time sped up again. "And you're coming with me!" Rumlow yelled, clicking a button with his right thumb. Something exploded, for about two seconds. Then the explosion halted in midair, Rumlow's face betraying his obvious agony. Steve whirled to find Wanda protecting him, creating a barrier around the pained man to keep him from causing any damage, and Steve stared, all thoughts of Bucky wiped from his mind.

We're standing face-to-face
With our inhuman race
We commit the sins again and our sons and daughters pay
Our tainted history
Is playing on repeat
But we can change it if we stand up strong and take the lead

Wanda lost control.

Rumlow went flying into the building. Three floors exploded on the southwest side. Steve radioed Sam for help. "We gotta get up there." (And here's where I'm making it up because now it's switching to Tony giving a speech about his parents.) He ran towards the building, Wanda on his heels. With no immediate danger to his life in sight, his thoughts were able to drift back to what Rumlow had said. "'When you gotta go, you gotta go.'" Bucky said that? Bucky wouldn't say that. Bucky knew, Bucky understood… but Steve knew he didn't. He wasn't quite the same man that Steve had fallen in love with eighty years ago. But he wasn't gone either.

When I was younger I was named
A generation unafraid
For years to come, be brave

Steve had lost him.

Twice.

He wasn't going to let it happen again. He was going to find Bucky and bring him home and fix him. And he was going to save him from the pain. All of it.

He found himself reliving the first time he lost Bucky, the fall (the… Reichenbachfall? Sorry… too soon. For me at least. I made the joke, and I'm crying. Fuck). The helicopter… going so fast… he fell out. Time slowed down and Steve reached for his hand, but he couldn't quite grab it. He slipped away, and he was gone as fast as he had been there. That was a metaphor for everything Steve did. He was always just short of achieving his goals. It occurred to him that perhaps he was setting his standards too high.

And meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword, your shield, your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echoes and the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything can stay the same, or we can change it all
Meet me on the battlefield

And meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword, your shield, your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echoes and the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything can stay the same, or we can change it all
Meet me on the battlefield

Bucky… now, Steve was sitting in his room. Bucky. Bucky Barnes. James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was all there was.

He was everything.

He was the entire universe.

He stood up and pulled out a piece of paper. He began to write.

Bucky,
I've recently realized I'm in love with you. When? you might ask. Since I've found myself basing all my decisions on you.

I remember exactly when I fell in love with you.

I was sixteen years old….


I HOPE U LIKED IT

it was mostly dumb and shit

but whateversssssssss

idfk

don't ask

I'm just crazyyyyyy

and I've had a rough few days.

But! But, I'm okay now.

Love,
Allie