A/N: I was listening to the Frozen Sountrack when I came up with this idea- it literally hit me out of no where!

Warning: mentions of a suicide attempt and self-harm

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Steve looks at the broken form of his friend sitting on a hospital bed and staring blankly at the wall in front of him. It's been three weeks since he first saw Bucky in D.C. as Winter Soldier, and three days since he cured his friend of his brainwashing, and brought him to a hospital in upstate New York. The blond looks over his friend's form, in search of any injuries. While his friend appears to be completely healed physically, he can't say the same for his mental progression.

After Bucky first regained his memories, he looked so guilt ridden at realizing all the horrible things he did as Winter Soldier, he opened the back hatch and jumped out of the in-flight plane in what Steve thought was a suicide attempt. The Commander immediately dove after his friend and caught him in mid-air. He ignored Bucky's shouts of "I don't deserve to be saved" and "I want to die, Steve, why can't you just accept that!" and simply held is friend close as they plumped towards the concrete. They were barely saved from death by Sam, who caught them by the straps on Steve's uniform (Surprisingly, The Falcon didn't complain about heavy their combined weight was).

Ever since Bucky was admitted to the hospital, he's been mute. Steve is having a hard time getting his friend to talk with him, despite the fact he's by Bucky's side since he's was admitted. The blond has been telling his friend everything about his time in the present: about the Avengers, the Chitauri invasion, how he, Natasha, and Sam have been invited to move into the newly constructed Avengers Tower. Steve quickly added that the invite was extended to Bucky as well, and that he was welcome whenever he was ready.

Bucky doesn't respond.

"Anything?" Natasha asks after Steve leaves Bucky's room. She's standing in front of the one-way mirror outside the hospital room with her arms crossed and posture steady.

The blond shakes his head sadly and shuts the door behind him.

Natasha walks over to Steve and places a strong hand on his shoulder, which is her version of a hug. "He'll come around. I'm sure of it," she offers. "You should get some rest. I'll watch over him."

Steve is about to protest, but Natasha fixes him a stern look.

"I'll call you if anything changes. Now, go," she orders, using her hand that was on Steve's shoulder to point to the elevators.

Steve sighs, deciding not to argue with the redhead (he would lose anyway). The blond gives his friend one last longing glance through the mirror before ultimately heading to the elevator.

If he so happened to grab a nurse's coat and a hat on his way out, and Natasha happened to see him, she doesn't say anything.

That night, Steve returns to the hospital disguised as a nurse. He makes it past the front desk and the actual nurses with relative ease despite the strange looks they fix him (he later realizes it's because the name tag on the coat he borrowed says "Nurse Julie Stein"). The blond reaches the end of the hall, and enters the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor, which is where Bucky's room is located.

Steve decided while he was "resting" that instead of trying to talk to Bucky, he's going to sing to him. It sounds stupid, even in Steve's head, but when they were younger and didn't feel like talking, they would communicate through song. The blond fondly remembers belting Frank Sinatra lyrics to each other and laughing at Bucky's rendition of "Over the Rainbow."

The elevator arrives on the third floor and Steve exits, before making his way to his friend's room. Thankfully, he doesn't run into any nurses on this level, assuming them to be at the nurse's station by the stairs on the other side of the floor. Steve turns the next corner carefully, peering around and finding no sign of Natasha, Sam, or Fury lingering outside Bucky's room.

Steve steps up to the one-way mirror, feeling his heartbreak. His friend still sitting in the same position as earlier and appears to be wide-awake. The blond raises his hand to knock on the door and pauses. He's trying to remember what the name of that movie Clint made him watch before Natasha called and asked him to come to D.C.—the one about the sisters and the snowman.

After a few moments, he finally remembers. This is going to be embarrassing, but Bucky used to always get a kick out of the blond making a fool himself.

Asshole.

"Bucky?" Steve takes a breath and knocks on Bucky's door. "Do you wanna build a snowman?" He winces at his attempt at singing. It's been decades since he's practiced.

"Come on let's go and play." The blond cringes, realizing the stupidity of his idea, but he's already started. Besides, if he doesn't finish this now, Bucky will eventually corner him, force him to finish, and then laugh in his face.

"I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away. We used to be best buddies, and now we're not. I wish you would tell me why." Oh good job, Rogers, way to remind the man that he hasn't been himself for over seventy years and that they aren't close anymore.

"Do you want to build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman," Steve says, letting the last word hang in the air. This was such a bad idea. He should have gone with a song that Bucky would know and not something from a children's film that Clint showed him on a whim.

Steve sighs, wondering if there is a possible way to come back from this when the door opens, and the blond finds himself staring back into the eyes of his best friend.

The other man looks terrible, but more exhausted than anything. Steve suspects he would be too after being experimented on, forced onto various missions, and frozen between each one. He remembers the doctor saying that there's evidence Bucky fought back against the people who brainwashed him, shown in the form of scratches and scars littered across his good arm and a dent in his metal arm. The doctor also mentioned that it appears as though Bucky's arm had been detached at least once. Steve can imagine Bucky ripping off his own arm and beating his captors with it—it's the exact sort of thing his friend would do.

Bucky makes a sound, which brings Steve out of his thoughts. He looks at his friend eagerly, hoping the other man will say something, even if it just "Go away, Steve" or "You still haven't been practicing your vocals, Rogers."

It takes a few minutes, but his friend finally speaks.

"I never want to see snow again," Bucky says in a quiet, hoarse voice.

Steve gulps and nods, suppressing the grin that wants to slide over his face at hearing his best friend's voice again. The blond can feel unshed tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "Bucky . . ."

"Stevie . . .?"

And Steve nearly does cry at hearing his old nickname again. Without thinking, the blond leans forward and wraps Bucky in a tight hug. He feels the other man tense before realizing he made a mistake at initiating contact too soon. Steve moves to release his friend and apologize profusely when he feels hesitant arms wrap around his middle.

The Commander smiles and leans into Bucky resting his chin on his friend's metal shoulder. His grin widens as he feels Bucky tighten his arms around Steve. They can get through this. Steve knows things will never be the same as they were back in the forties, but he's hoping that with this gesture, they can start to rebuild their friendship. Bucky is, and has always been, the most important person in Steve's life and he doesn't ever want to lose him again.

Hell, maybe one day, he'll be able to convince Bucky to build something with him.

It doesn't have to be a snowman.