Title: Let my eyes see the sun until they are dazzled with looking
Fandom: Avengers movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Gilgamesh
Warnings: post-film
Pairings: implied Steve/Bucky, maybe
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 230
Point of view: third
Prompt: fallen
Natasha is the one to bring him in. He's still someone else, someone Steve has never met, and Fury orders Steve to stay away.
Steve ignores that order, of course, but the infirmary is empty.
Tony helps him drink a bar; Clint and Thor cycle through, and Bruce sits with him in silence while Tony snores.
But then Natasha is in the door, an actual smile on her face. It's been three days since Fury forbade him from seeing –
"C'mon, Cap," Natasha says. "I've got someone you should meet."
His stomach is roiling. "Are you sure?" he asks, and doesn't even know what he means.
He's alive? He's alright? He's mine?
"Yes," she says, sounding the gentlest he's ever heard her.
Bruce, Clint, Thor, and Tony all hang back when Steve follows Natasha into the room.
Bucky's asleep on the bed, looking the same as the day he fell. He's got a metal arm, but his eyes open and he looks at Steve and he smiles, he smiles, and Steve can breathe the freest breath since he woke up in the future.
Bucky's alive. Steve stumbles forward, grasping for his hand, and Bucky clutches back at him, still smiling.
"Hey, Stevie," he murmurs, voice hoarse and soft. "We got some catchin' up to do, I hear."
"Yeah," Steve whispers, voice thick with years worth of grief and relief. "Yeah, Buck, we do."