When James Buchanan Barnes first met Steve Rogers, it was on the playground. Some bully thought they could pick on a small defenseless kid who had no muscles to speak of, nor height to intimidate his aggressor. Normally, James probably wouldn't have given a second thought to this guy, he probably would have just sauntered off joking with his friends.
Instead, he went up to the kid, tapped him on the shoulder, and stood beside him in a defensive stance. He looked over.
"Hi, I'm Bucky. Put your fists up like this."
The smaller kid only looked up confusedly, but he did as he was told.
Together, they sent the bully running as if his pants had caught on fire. The kid had gotten quite the beating in the process, but Bucky carried him home as per direction on his back, not caring about the looks he got on the way.
"I'm Steve." the kid finally said, prompting Bucky to smile.
"Hey, Steve. I got you."
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It happened like this many times, Bucky would pull Steve out of the messes he got himself in. Sometimes it irritated Bucky, but he always remembered how he was drawn to Steve in the first place.
Steve was the little lionheart who refused to back down.
And each and every time Steve was patched up, Bucky nudged him gently and said,
"Hey, Steve?"
"Yeah?"
"I got you."
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Even while Bucky was gone, on the front lines, every night he would think about getting back home to Steve and saving his but a thousand and one more times. He dreamed of it, cherished it, prayed for it.
And when Zola took him, caused him pain, made him suffer under the scourge of things Bucky had never imagined could exist, he could imagine Steve right there with him, saying,
"Hey, Bucky? I got you."
It was the only thing that kept him sane, through all the inhuman things that they did to him, things that he would never even dream of telling Steve about, not in a billion years.
At least, that's what he thought about each day, until one day Steve wasn't small anymore and had the strength to pull him up off the table.
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When the long combat days and frigid watchful nights came, with Bucky 'following Captain America into the jaws of death' (or better yet, the little guy from Brooklyn too dumb not to run away from a fight) while fighting H.Y.D.R.A., the two best friends still stood by each other, fighting side by side on every battlefield they encountered.
There were nights where Steve was on watch, it was Bucky's turn to sleep, and the latter woke up, sweating, trembling, whimpering,
"Stop, stop, stop…" over and over and over again.
All Steve could do was sit beside his 'brother' until he could breathe again. Steve so longed to know what it was that made Bucky sweat, cower and cry, what reduced his hero to no more than a tiny, frightened child. But Bucky always refused to say a word. So the only thing Steve said, in the silence of the oncoming dawn, was,
"Hey, Bucky?"
"Mmhmm?"
"I got you."
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Then came the day not to be forgotten.
The day that hole was blasted into the H.Y.D.R.A. train, taking with it a fighting Bucky who was struggling to hold on.
The day Bucky screamed down to his snowy death, Steve incapable of even breathing, speeding away on the accursed rails above.
The day Zola was able to recapture his victim, replacing his hopeless, mangled arm with a hideous, yet brutally powerful metal one.
The day Steve convinced himself that he was utterly incapable of protecting any of the human beings he cared about.
Time pulled them further apart, yet even through the horrific decades of brainwashing, filled with broken screams, blood and nightmarish realities, Bucky was still there, just under the surface. But he was being pushed under, deeper and deeper each time his mind was erased.
Steve held on to Bucky as well, even through the few battles that remained for him, then the long sleep in ice, then the reawakening and the Avengers. But he had to accept it, Bucky was gone forever.
They had to let go, even though it was written in their hearts.
"Hey Steve?"
"Hey Bucky?"
"I got you."
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Until one day, the Winter Soldier's mission was to rid the world of Captain America.
There was one thing that was left unsaid when Sam Wilson tried to convince Steve that Bucky wouldn't remember. It was the thing that had been buried for decades upon decades. But it didn't need to be said. Even Sam could see it.
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Bucky had Steve pinned. It was a feeling Steve hadn't missed, the bruises, blood and pain everywhere, reminding him of when he was small and helpless.
"YOU… ARE… MY… MISSION!" Bucky screamed as he pounded Steve with his fist over and over again.
Steve could barely get the words out.
"Then finish it," he gasped out, "Cause I'm with you 'till the end of the line."
Horror.
What had he done?! Bucky knew those words! He knew he wasn't supposed to hurt the one person he'd once said those to!
But it was already too late. The floor of the Helicarrier collapsed under them and Captain America almost sank to the bottom of the river.
The former Winter Soldier, now without purpose, pulled him out, acting only on the instinct that he was supposed to protect this man.
Unbeknownst to him, deep in what remained of his shattered soul ran the words,
"Hey, Steve? I got you."
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It was many long years before Steve found him again. And this time again, under less than pleasant circumstances. In Bucky's small apartment with a storm of chaos coming for them. He so wanted to know that his best friend was okay, after so long, but he had no choice other than to get him out of there.
Fighting soldiers, fighting T'challa, fighting, fighting, fighting… It was all Steve could do to keep from trying to stop time and screaming in frustration. Just one moment of quiet?! Please?!
And then he didn't even have a chance. Not when they were all arrested, he and Falcon, and Bucky, and Bucky was put into a giant box not unlike the vises he used to be trapped in as the Winter Soldier. Not when the psychologist came in and suddenly everything was so wrong and why was Bucky fighting like that, and dammit, that wasn't a psychologist, what the hell was happening? Not when Steve had to use all the strength he'd ever used to stop Bucky from leaving in the helicopter, and they both fell together this time into the water.
Not until they were quasi-safe and Bucky was awake again, even though they had to put his arm in a vise to make sure he wouldn't wake up and try to kill them.
And then they were leaving to find safety, and Bucky was more or less there, but he was there. Finally!
This time Steve stopped him with an arm on the shoulder as they were heading out. Bucky seemed to search his face, looking for any signs of insincerity, danger, scarcely hidden lies. But there were were none. There was only a the love of a brother in Steve's eyes.
"Hey, Bucky?"
Silence. Questions.
"I got you."
That was enough to reassure Bucky.
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And even through the battle against Stark's team, Steve always had an eye and ear out for Bucky, right through the moment of chaos they had flying away in the Quinjet (what the hell is going on behind them?) and the only thing between them being the noise of the flying machine.
Then they got there, the barren plain in the middle of nowhere, the silence of the blowing snow only broken by their arrival. There was the unspoken reassurance when Bucky remembered something else of what he, they used to be. The quiet chuckle and the gentle grip of the shoulder.
Hey Bucky?
Yes, Steve?
I got you.
They went down in the elevator and reaffirmed it again. Knowing they had each other's back all the time. One of the last moments of quiet and understanding between them before Stark descended, and Bucky was dubbed 'the Manchurian Candidate' and soon after all hell broke loose.
Tony was furious. Unrelenting. He refused to back down. And Steve was terrified he was going to lose Bucky for good this time. The both of them against a man seeing red in a metal suit. It wasn't an army, but it was one of the most dangerous battles they'd ever fought.
Steve thought he would lose it when Stark blasted Bucky's metal arm into oblivion. And he almost did. He almost killed Tony, almost jammed his shield right into the arc reactor, which everybody knew would mean the billionaire's death. And Tony had almost seemed to accept it. But no, Steve was no murderer of friends, no matter how they hurt him. Or the ones he loved most.
So stumbling, he picked himself up, knowing that he'd forever betrayed Tony's trust. His mind was a whirlwind of emotion as he helped Bucky up as well, who looked utterly spaced out and completely weakened which infuriated Steve. But he couldn't turn around and fight. He had to walk away from this one. It had also pained him to drop his shield, but how could he be worthy to carry it anymore when he carried the killer of its maker on his shoulder? He would rather have his best friend by his side now.
The age of Captain America was finished.
But he no longer cared. He made sure Bucky was comfortable as possible before taking his own seat on the Quinjet and motioning for T'challa to sweep them away from this terrible place.
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Steve felt trepidation about the shared plan to cryofreeze Bucky again, even though the person in question was so enthusiastic about it. He knew that now Bucky would be safe. But if he had to leave, then that was what made him nervous because while T'challa would keep guard on Bucky with his massive facility, he himself was the one who was meant to watch Bucky's back.
He felt unsure about this, but he knew they had no other choice. Coming over to his best friend, he asked the question that was pressing upon him. "Are you sure about this?"
Bucky answered, "I can't trust my own mind." He thought about when Zemo had triggered him on purpose and he'd lost all control. Steve thought about that time as well. But Bucky offered a small smile, if only to mask how unsure he still felt about himself.
When the capsule closed around Bucky, Steve had one thought, and one thought only.
Hey Bucky.
I got you.