Steve: Hey, Vision.
Vision: Hello, Captain Rogers.
S: Tony isn't going to be too happy you've come to see me.
V: I am not under his control. I promise I'll be discreet.
S: Hey, it's pretty amazing that you could even find us. You deserve to know.
V: That is quite flattering. However, we have more important things to speak of.
S: Is everyone okay?
V: The other Avengers are fine. They miss you, as you miss them.
S: No real harm ever came from missing someone.
V: That sentence seems rehearsed. I know for certain that missing people can cause pain. I miss Wanda every day.
S: The pain dulls after a while, though.
V: More likely, the pain becomes constant. One simply gets used to it.
S: ...
V: I apologize for overstepping my boundaries. Tony tells me it is not so bad anymore, but I must continue to improve.
S: No, Vision, it's alright. What was it you wanted to talk about?
V: It is rather on the subject of missing people. Is that acceptable?
S: Of course.
V: How is Lieutenant Barnes? Is he recovering from your altercation with Mr. Stark?
S: ...Those are complicated questions. He asked to be frozen again, for everyone's safety, he said. I think he healed well before then, though. Why do you ask?
V: He is your best friend, is he not?
S: Yeah. We've been best friends since...well, since forever. Wow, it's already been ninety years or so. 'Til the end of the line.
V: Until the end of the line?
S: It's what we always told each other. So far, it's worked. We find each other eventually.
V: That reminds me of a pop culture reference, but I don't think either one of us would understand it completely.
S: Probably. I haven't really had time to adjust, what with the world ending and the world's governments using us as target practice.
V: Never mind about that. How are you, Captain Rogers?
S: Pretty terrible, actually. Thanks for asking. The doctors that worked on Bucky keep telling me to see a psychologist, but that won't help me. There's seventy years of mess to sort through without tossing it on someone else's back.
V: What would help you? Professionals often aren't needed. One doesn't need a professional when the right person is already there, correct?
S: I can't wake Bucky up for a selfish reason like that.
V: You, Captain Rogers, are far too concerned with selflessness. You cannot expect to live on morals alone, just as I cannot live on logic alone.
S: Some things you just need to deal with by yourself.
V: And some things, you don't have to.
Bucky could barely register the voices outside the quiet place he was in. It was nice in here, maybe a little cold, but nobody screamed at him, and there was no blood. He'd never really liked the color red, not that anybody asked him but Steve.
Maybe that was Steve's voice, out there. He recognized the timbre, the quality Steve's voice had. Stubborn as a mule, that one. Never asked for help, not even when he needed it. Too-Strong Steven Rogers.
Even in the beginning, he was the strong one. He may have had every allergy known to man, a tendency to get sick, and the smallest, skinniest body to be found, but he never stopped trying. Steve never gave up, and he made Bucky marvel every day.
Bucky could see Steve in his head, even now. It took a bit of effort, but he could conjure a fuzzy image of his best friend.
He wasn't thin anymore. He was taller, more muscular, and definitely the same dork Bucky knew. The same boy who'd had trouble talking to girls still blushed whenever Bucky mentioned anything close to romance. It was endearing, just as it had always been.
People weren't supposed to find their male best friends endearing though. Whatever.
Bucky tried to push the image of Steve to the back of his head, but clearing your thoughts isn't as easy as people say.
S: You came here to ask me about Bucky? Why?
V: Indulge me, if you would. I am simply curious, and previously programmed to notice all that I could. It appears that you and Lieutenant Barnes have much to notice.
S: Really? We're just two best friends.
V: If I were Tony, I would make a super-soldier joke.
S: Well, yes. We're both super-soldiers now, but it didn't used to be that. We weren't just that. It's what we've got now, another obstacle, but we'll get through it.
V: What if you don't?
S: Pardon?
V: What would happen if he betrayed you?
S: ...I can't stop trying for him. I will do anything I can to bring him back to what I know he can be.
V: What would you do if Bucky died?
S: I can honestly tell you I don't know. He died once already, or I thought he did, and I nearly drank myself into an early grave, but by then...
V: You physically couldn't.
S: Peggy told me to live for him. I have since then, even when I didn't know where he was.
V: ...
S: ...
V: I've learned things about humans since I was put in this body.
S: It would be a little strange if you didn't.
V: There are, for lack of a better word, different brands of person. There are some people who live solely for themselves. They seem terribly out of place in the world, because humans are generally social creatures. Another brand would let their loved ones die to keep themselves alive, which means nothing, because they can't truly love another person. Some people, the ones who become villains, would let the world burn for their pain, for their loved ones are already gone and they have nothing to lose. Now, on the other end of the spectrum have two groups. One group, which has extreme levels and more mellow levels, would die to keep their loved ones safe. Tony is in this group when it comes to Miss Potts and the Avengers. Barton is like that with his family and Miss Romanoff. Dr. Banner cares about everyone like this, but Miss Romanoff especially. I...care about Wanda to that extent.
S: What is the last group?
V: There are very few people to this extreme, but there are those who would destroy the world to keep their loved ones safe.
S: ...
V: ...
S: Do I have to ask which category I fit in?
V: ...I believe there is very little you would not do to make sure Bucky stays with you and alive.
Bucky raised his eyebrows. The voices seemed to get louder and closer. And was he in an elevator? It was an awfully cold elevator; he thought this was supposed to be the tropics.
The Steve floating around his head smiled at him, holding out a hand to pull him in for warmth. Bucky felt safe here. It might have been a bit chilly for the tropics, but Steve would always be there for him.
He really didn't deserve it, he knew. He knew he was wrong, a soldier built out of words and pain and metal, when soldiers (like Steve) were supposed to be made from honor and love and duty. That alone should have kept him away from his best friend. But time seemed to be on their side.
Somehow, Steve had emerged from ice, and Bucky had a new mission.
He'd never known hurting Steve could damage him so much, though. He'd never known he would watch Steve die without struggling by his own hand, because Steve wouldn't let him go. Bucky should have understood right then that the pain he'd endured to become the Winter Soldier was nothing compared to seeing his best friend on the ground, barely breathing, drowning in his bruises and blood.
Torture had different meanings. Some didn't become apparent until the nights of replaying the same scenes over and over. He's gone, he's gone, he's gone and you're seventy years too late.
S: I care about him a lot, that's true.
V: Steve, I know what caring looks like. You look manic without him.
S: What does it matter? It was his decision to go back to being frozen! I can't keep him from doing what he wants.
V: Can't you do something selfish for once in your life?
S: Urgh! I thought AIs weren't supposed to argue with you.
V: Clearly you've never heard of HAL.
S: Not funny! Why are you trying to set me up?
V: I resent that. You cannot see what is so clearly before your eyes.
S: And what is that?
V: What would you do if you had to choose between Bucky and the world?
S: Why are you asking me this?
V: Simply answer the question. Answer it, and I'll leave you alone.
S: ...
V: Captain Rogers, I won't leave you be until you tell me. What would you do if it was him or the planet? Someone gave you a choice; what would you say?
S: ...
V: Steve, I'm doing this to help you. You never talk about yourself, about what you need to say but won't. You're too selfless for that. Be selfish just this once.
S: Him.
V: I'm not sure I heard you correctly.
S: I would choose him every time, you're right. I would burn the world to ashes if I had to, I would kill everyone I knew and loved. And I would hate myself, but not for long, because I'd have him. Is that what you want to hear? Because it's the truth, I assure you.
The cold was going away a little. Bucky knew it had to be from outside him, because the voices were getting louder at the same time. He could barely hear himself think.
"Steve, I know what caring looks like. You look manic without him."
What was wrong with Steve? Had he been getting more nightmares? Did Steve need him? What was going on?
Bucky worriedly blinked, starting to move his limbs, but it was taking too long. Why was it still cold?
"What would you do if you had to choose between Bucky and the world?"
Wait. Rewind.
"What would you do if you had to choose between Bucky and the world?"
Nope, still sounded crazy.
Why would someone ask Steve that question? Bucky knew Steve and him were partners until the end, but if the world was at stake, there was nothing Steve wouldn't do to save it. Bucky may have been a bit important, but not compared to the planet. Steve would probably die for him, Bucky knew that much, but it wasn't worth it to speculate.
Not worth it. But he listened hard enough to hear Steve's answer.
His voice was quiet, almost too quiet for even Bucky's advanced hearing to understand, but he did.
"Him."
"I'm not sure I heard you correctly." But Bucky did. He heard what Steve had said and just wanted to wake up so he could talk to him.
It was still so cold, but it was starting to warm up.
Bucky blinked again, this time to the sight of glass shifting up and away from his eyes. He could see Steve rush over to him, looking concerned.
He looked tired, even though super-soldiers weren't supposed to look tired, and his face had lines that it wasn't supposed to have.
What had the other person called it? The other person apparently being Vision.
Bucky: Manic.
S: What?
B: You look manic. What's wrong, Steven?
S: I was worried about you.
B: Thanks, but I'm fine. You know the freezing doesn't hurt me. You were there the whole time inside my head.
V: Really? You see Captain Rogers even after the mental slowing of the cryo process? That's rather intriguing.
S: And you're an AI in human body. Someone could call you 'rather intriguing' as well.
V: ...Was that a subtle way of telling me to leave you two alone?
B: Possibly.
S: Definitely.
B: ...Is that true?
S: ...
B: Would you burn the world to ashes to keep me safe?
S: Yeah, I would. And it scares me, Buck. It scares me.
B: Is it like I'm your child or your friend or your...other?
S: Someone wouldn't destroy the world for a friend.
B: ...Come here with me.
S: ...
B: ...
S: ...I might kiss you now.
B: Okay.
S: Please don't leave again.
B: Never.