Disclaimer: The characters belong to MARVEL COMICS and MCU. I own nothing.

This place looked familiar.

Steve knew he had been here before, but couldn't remember how or when.

Before he could think further, the ground beneath him suddenly started to move.

That was when he realized he was sitting on a rusty ride of a giant Ferris wheel.

Steve realized with a jolt that he was back to Coney Island.

But how did he end up here?

He tightly gripped the creaky iron railing of his seat as the ride accelerated upwards.

His heart leapt to his throat as he realized how bony and frail his hand looked, pressed against the cold metal.

How on earth did they look like they belonged to his smaller self before being injected with the super serum!

It was at this point when he realized it was a dream.

He was just dreaming and he needed to come out of this dream immediately, because something unknown scared him.

"Why?" He whispered to himself.

A sound of laughter rang in his ears. It was coming from his left.

That sound…Steve would've recognized it even in his afterlife.

"Bucky!" the trepidation in Steve's heart couldn't stop him from turning painfully slow to his left.

HE was there, sitting beside him. A hearty grin lighting up his perfect face.

Bucky was wearing the black sweater with red stripes, which Steve's mother gifted him one Christmas. Steve had an identical one with blue stripes. It looked so lovely on Bucky that Steve almost stopped wearing the identical one, knowing that he could never look the same with it on.

Steve stared at his clear blue eyes and his own eyes burnt with unshed tears.

"You are not really here, right. You can't be…this is just a dream."

"What are you talking about, punk? Where would I go…remember I am always there?" Bucky face still held that sunshine smile.

Steve felt his heart would explode if he couldn't touch his face…at least once.

But he knew it was a dream.

He needed to come out of it.

And he didn't want to.

Bucky's smile turned wicked as their ride reached the peak height.

From there, it was all downhill.

Bucky made a sudden movement, rocking the seat unsteadily by pushing it back and forth.

"No. Buck, stop." Steve shrieked. His grip on the railing involuntarily tightened.

"Honestly Bucky, I don't want to fall." He pleaded as Bucky laughed some more.

"No dummy. I won't let you fall."

Then everything turned blank and the next moment, Steve felt the rush of wind against his skin as he was falling down into nothingness.

His mouth opened in a soundless scream, but he never hit the ground.

Instead, he was standing at the deck of a gigantic vessel, watching the sky turning blood red as the evening sun drowned at the horizon.

Everything was tinted with crimson. It didn't feel right. It wasn't natural and Steve felt the familiar sense of discomfort rising in his chest.

"This is not real."

"Who said it isn't?" this time the voice came from behind.

Steve didn't have to look back to know who it was.

He felt blood rushing to his face as someone whispered in his ear "Are you ready, Captain?"

"Yes" was the word his lips formed, before he could even understand what was going on.

He turned round to find himself looking at the same eyes, only this time there was so much darkness swirling in the depths of them.

The masked man with long hair was standing behind him.

'HE was not Bucky.' Steve told himself.

Except he was!

Steve didn't dare move a muscle even when he saw the man leaning towards him.

He just waited breathlessly when the man yanked the mask off his face, revealing his hard jawline and unnaturally red, full lips.

Steve watched him with a mix of awe and horror as he sensed how fatally attracted he was to this man.

But he was not Bucky.

He was the winter soldier.

Every muscle in Steve's body clenched as he felt his lips brushing against the corner of Steve's mouth.

"Oh God! Buck, please." Steve pleaded as his eyes fluttered closed.

"You missed me, Stevie" it was not a question.

"Like hell, Buck. Without you, I am just a dead man walking." Steve's voice trembled.

"Don't ever say that, jerk." Bucky's breath was hot against his cheek.

"Promise me you'll stay. If I see you walk out of my life again, Buck, I swear I won't survive it." Steve let the tears flow freely. He wasn't ashamed of them.

He felt Buck's lips softly licking away the salty wetness from his cheek. His heartbeat pulsated in his ears and at that moment he wanted nothing but to melt in his arms.

"But you have to let me go, baby." It wasn't a question, either. Steve felt those words piercing his heart like a shearing iron spear.

"I can't." Steve's voice cracked. "Not this time. I just got you back."

"You have to." The voice got sterner. It felt like multiple voices were speaking at once.

The voices grew louder in his head till Steve couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop! Stop it please!" he begged "I love him. Do you hear me, Buck? I love you."

"Goodbye Steve." The wind whispered in his ears.

"NO!"

Steve sat bolt upright in couch, the echo of his own scream ringing in his ears. A dull, numbing sensation had settled on his neck and shoulders.

He rubbed his neck wearily as his eyes fell on the glowing numbers on the digital clock.

It was 1.20 am at night.

He has been asleep for nearly three hours.

He wiped the wetness off his cheeks, feeling utterly exhausted and lightheaded.

A tiny part of his subconscious desperately wanted to go back to sleep and re-live the dream.

"Just one more time." His heart ached.

Steve slowly hoisted himself up and walked towards the kitchen sink, hoping to pour himself some water. The white t-shirt he wore below his sweater was sticking to his back with damp, cold sweat.

Steve stopped mid-way as he saw the screen of his smartphone resting on the table was blinking with message alert.

Steve frowned and picked it up, momentarily forgetting about his physical discomforts.

It could be from Sharon, or one of the Avengers.

'It should better not be from Fury.' He secretly hoped as he tapped his fingers on screen to see the message.

It turned out to be from an unknown number.

It said –

Steve,

Fury picked up some shadow activities two blocks away from your building.

Don't freak out.

Don't do anything stupid.

Something tells me this could be HIM.

Nat