Steve spent hours babbling away excitedly to the imaginary friend sitting beside him, Bucky smiling warmly down at the child nuzzled into his side for warmth as the blond spoke heatedly to him about all the different worlds he had created. Bucky didn't have the heart to tell him that he already knew of quite a bit of it, having been crafted from the depths of this universe anyway. He had his metal arm, cool to the touch, wrapped softly around his shoulders, almost pulling Steve onto his lap. As he listened to him speak, his blue eyes investigated the room around them, focusing on the hasty, scribbled artworks taped over the peeling wallpaper in an attempt of redecoration. They depicted, albeit childishly, tall, hulking figures in bright outfits, with armour and robots and aliens, and it was very clear that they were the idolising figures of a small child wanting more out of life.
Smiling wistfully, he suddenly cut Steve off by tussling his hair, looking down at him.
"You're pretty scrawny for someone who makes up so many buff men, you know that?" He huffed, with a hint of amusement. Steve's face scrunched in annoyance.
"Shut up! I am not scrawny, you're scrawny."
Bucky just snorted, Steve getting even more indignant. "I'll hit you if you say that again!" And as if to prove a point, he raised his small fist, Bucky laughing as he moved back, hands raised. "Alright, alright alright, I promise I won't call you scrawny again."
"Good." Steve harrumphed, quite pleased with himself. Bucky muffled another laugh, sitting back against the wall and staring at the ceiling. More pictures. Did he really have nothing better to do than lay in bed and draw all day?
"Hey...Steve?" He looked at him softly, and the blond blinked, looking up at him.
"Yeah, Bucky?"
"Why do you draw so much? Don't you do anything else?"
However, at the sight of Steve's face falling, he hurried to correct his mistake.
"Oh, shit- I mean shoot, uh..I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I was just curious..."
"No, it's fine..." Steve sighed softly, fiddling with the pencil in his bony hands. "I don't really have anything else to do, that's all."
At Bucky's silence, he continued.
"We don't really have a lot of money. Dad brings home a lot of paper from his work so that I can keep drawing, and my mum bought me this pencil and a lot of refills for my birthday. Anyway, I really love drawing. It's a lot of fun."
"..Oh." Bucky understood immediately, frowning slightly as he sat back. "Well that's a shame. I hope I'm not intruding too much by being here, then."
"No!" Steve burst out, suddenly hugging him tight, and Bucky snorted, hugging back.
"It's awesome you're here, I'm really glad you are, my parents will love you!"
"You sure? It seems like another mouth to feed would really be the last thing they need, of all things..." Bucky murmured, still unsure but a little swayed. Steve just gave him an even more determined look.
"Yes! Positive. They'll totally be happy, they've been wanting me to have an Imaginary Friend, they'll be so excited for me that it won't even matter!"
He took a few minutes to consider this, staring down at the clearly pig-headed child – what had he gotten into – before he gave him a grin, wrapping the metal arm around him and bringing him into his muscular side.
"You really are a lonely little squirt, aren't you?"
Steve's cry of protest could be heard even outside the apartment, followed by deep peals of laughter from the imaginary friend as he was pummelled by the small fists of his new best friend.
This cry was, unfortunately, also heard by Steve's mother, who was just arriving back home, and she froze at the doorway, key held barely inches away from the scratched lock. Her face paled in horror at the laughter and anguished cries, thoughts of burglars and murderers breaking in to harm her sickly son.
At this stage, still oblivious to the terrified presence outside, Bucky suddenly pinned Steve down on his back, laughing evilly as he dragged and danced his fingers down the child's sensitive sides, causing him to thrash and squeal.
"NO! NO STOP! STOP IT, STOP!"
Swallowing back her fear, Sarah clicked the lock, pushing the door open and stepping in as quietly as she could, moving towards the phone. However, it wasn't silent enough, the brunet freezing in place. Steve blinked, looking up at him.
"..Hey, Bucky, what's-" But he was cut off by the man hissing and clapping his flesh hand over his mouth. Squealing in shock, he gripped at his wrist, staring up at him in growing fear.
Steve knew exactly what must have been going on, mind stretching back into the stories he'd created in his own universe; Bucky was an assassin, highly trained, reflexes like a ninja- oh man it was probably his mom or something oh noooo no no no his best friend was about to kill his mom bad bad bad.
He struggled a little, but Bucky clearly misinterpreted, hissing at him a little, and he pulled out a knife with his metal hand where did that come from where did that come from that's not at all good nooooooo.
Sliding off the bed, all of his snarky teasing and friendly demeanour gone, Bucky stalked for the door in a low crouch, thick hunting knife clutched tightly in his robotic appendage. Steve scrambled after him, landing on the ground with an undignified squeal and a loud thump. The man barely noticed, boots making almost no sound on the wooden floorboards as he almost slid out of the room.
Sarah remained oblivious to the unfortunate danger she was in, grabbing the phone and heading for the room in which she'd heard the last sound. She desperately hoped her son was alright, finger hovering over the final '1' for the emergency services.
Hearing the footfalls, Bucky pressed himself into the doorway, gaze icy cold as the strange woman slowly stepped passed him. Taking in a slow breath, he raised the knife, stepping forward and-
"MOM! LOOK OUT!" Steve yelled, stumbling from his bedroom, thin form still tangled up in the sheets in quite an undignified manner. She jolted, spinning around, and gasped when she saw Bucky, stumbling back and hitting the doorframe.
He blinked hard, freezing in place when he heard the bellow, and the icy look melted away from his face. Hand sagging slightly, he looked towards Steve, then back at Sarah, eyes widening.
"Oh. Shit. I mean-I mean shoot, shoot, I'm sorry!" He couldn't fumble to drop the knife quickly enough, hands raising in defence as Sarah stared at him, gaping in horror.
"Oh God. I'm so sorry. I thought you were an intruder, I am so sorry!" Bucky rushed out. Realising she was probably thinking the same thing, he continued.
"I'm Bucky, my name is Bucky, I'm Steve's imaginary friend and I swear I'm not an intruder or anything else!"
Sarah paused. She blinked her blue eyes slowly, watching Bucky. "...You're...imaginary?"
He nodded quickly, wanting to assure her that he wasn't a threat. Sarah just slowly looked between Steve and Bucky, blinking slowly.
"...Oh."
And down she went.
