Steve swallowed harshly and lowered himself onto the bed. His mind was overflowing with rapid thoughts, it was difficult to sort through them all.

He had lost Bucky. Again.

They had a lead, but his friend only disappeared into the shadows for about the 10th time. Steve knew how sneaky and cautious Bucky could be, so he wasn't really surprised.

But the fact that Hydra might be tracking Bucky down, or whatever is left of Hydra, terrifies him. If anything happened to him, Steve would instantly be blaming himself. Everything felt like it fell on his shoulders, weighing him down and almost crushing him.

He can't remember when he never felt like this.

Steve sighed and laid down on the bed, not even bothering to change as he pulled the covers up to his chest. He soon dozed off, not even hearing a window in the apartment slide open slowly.

Steve stood on the side of the train, reaching out for Bucky's hand. Both of their hands were straining, trying to reach to impossible lengths to reach one another.

"Bucky! Grab my hand!"

His friend looked up at him, clear terror spread across his face.

"NO!" The railing shifted, Bucky quickly mouthing Steve's name before the rail completely gave way, and Bucky fell into a black abyss.

"BUCKY!" He screamed.

The scene shifted, Bucky stood in front of him.

"Why didn't you save me?"

Steve swallowed. "I couldn't reach you..I tried-I tried so hard.."

"You could have if you tried. You let me fall, Steve. I thought we were friends."

Steve's eyes flew open. "We are! I didn't- I'm sorry..Please- I'm sorry I couldn't catch you. I didn't want any of this to happen-"

He jolted awake with a choked-sob, nearly slamming into the figure in front of him. The glint of the metal arm caught his attention and his breathing became heavier.

"Didn't know you had nightmares about that.." A familiar voice spoke up softly, yet worriedly.

Steve blinked, wiping some of the tears away from his face. The figure soon came into view and Steve's heart nearly stopped.

"Bucky?" He croaked.

The man slowly nodded, staring at Steve with a weary expression. Dark circles were visible under his eyes, indicating he hasn't been sleeping, or hasn't been sleeping very well.

"Why-" Steve swallowed, rubbing his hands over his face. "What-?"

Bucky sighed and looked away. "I just wanted to check up on you..Yea, I..still can't remember everything..but I at least remember you."

Steve looked hopeful for a moment, but that quickly dropped as he lowered his head. "That's good.."

Bucky's expression changed. "Are you okay?"

He instantly knew he shouldn't have asked that, because Steve looked up with the most miserable expression Bucky has ever seen on his face.

"God, Steve…" He muttered, easing his flesh arm around his friend's back and pulling him closer. His metal arm hesitantly landed on the back of Steve's head. "I'm sorry-"

"No-No it's-It's fine.." Steve muttered, his grip on his friend tightening. "'m used to it. Have 'm every night."

Bucky tore away and stared at him almost incredulously. "You do?"

Steve looked away from him hesitantly.

Bucky sighed, his expression shattering into both empathy and sympathy for his friend. He wrapped both of his arms around him this time, without hesitation.

Eventually, Steve eased himself back into sleep and when he woke up, having been called for another mission, Bucky was gone; as if he was never there.

Steve frowned and got up, changing into the appropriate clothing required for the particular mission, including his suit.

The mission consisted of taking down one last Hydra base, which happened to still be standing. Though, it was unoccupied.

Steve threw the detonators into the building, finding that they were set to go off sooner than he expected.

The building blew before he made it safely away; and he was blown, quite aggressively, into a tree, landing on the ground with a dazed groan.

It was painful to move, and each breath caused agonizing pain to shoot through his chest. He coughed.

Despite this, he tried to push himself up, but screamed out in agony. A familiar voice quickly followed and neared him, but he could barely make out who it was as they knelt over him. He did notice the metal arm as the man attempted to shake him back into reality. The man was muttering something under his breath, but Steve fell unconscious before he could clearly make out what was being said.

He woke up in a hospital. The first thing he heard was the steady beeping of machines around him. It took a bit for him to fully adjust to his surroundings.

A coughing fit took over as he jolted up from his sitting position, eyes squeezed shut from the pain wracking his body as he did so.

Strong arms wrapped around him, rubbing circles around his back. One was much cooler than the other, but Steve was still in a state of confusion.

The man pulled back, still trying to get his attention. This time, he could hear the words.

"Steve! Hey. Snap out of it, pal. It's just me. It's Bucky."

Steve blinked a few times, finally recognizing the man in front of him.

"B-Bucky?" He croaked.

The man smiled. "Welcome back."

Steve blinked, groaned, then fell back onto the soft pillow behind him. "Wha' happened…?"

Bucky frowned. "You tried taking down a Hydra base, only to have it explode before you got out."

Steve looked up. "Oh."

His expression suddenly seemed to change to a, WAIT A MINUTE look. Steve shot up and stared at Bucky. "Wait- BUCKY?"

"Yea?"

"What the hell- What are you doing here? You-"

Bucky placed his flesh hand on Steve's shoulder firmly. "Calm down, Steve. You're hurt, and I couldn't just leave you."

"Yea, but you didn't have to-"

Bucky cut in. "That's what friends are for," He smiled.

Steve wrapped his arms around him, which Bucky didn't mind. He returned the embrace and they sat there for a few minutes.

"Now that I think about it.." Steve mumbled into Bucky's shoulder. "my back hurts.."

Bucky raised a brow. "Wow, your age is already showing."

Steve weakly smacked him. "Shut up. You're older than me.."

Bucky shrugged. "Yea?"

"So you should be more mature."

Bucky snorted. "Yea. Okay. Whatever, Steve."

He heard his friend mutter silent curses, likely directed at him, as he laid himself back down onto the hospital bed.

"Get some sleep, punk," Bucky said.

Steve's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly grinned. "Okay, mom."

Bucky snorted and rolled his eyes.