To those who read the comics, please forgive my small artistic license regarding The Winter Soldier's origins.

For days he hears no news of Bucky, but that doesn't bum him out.

He knows he has not left the city, and that's enough for now. Of course he'd have preferred it if his friend had called, and he did spend the first days rushing to answer the phone every time it ringed, but at least the man's not running away from him again, and he still has a lot of catching up to do, so he rarely gets bored.

So when a week later, heading back home for dinner, he unexpectedly bumps into him when turning around a corner, it comes as a surprise. A pleasant surprise, that is.

"Buc– uhh… hey! H-How have you been?"

"You haven't left" the man says, though he sounds more like he's making a statement, rather than angry or accusatory.

"Yeah I–I'm sorry. I can't really leave, but I have been trying not to bother you, like I promised. I wasn't following you right now, I swear it. I was just going home."

Bucky nods, but he does not speak, and Steve wants to say something, anything that'd make Bucky loosen up a bit, but nothing he comes up with sounds right, so in the end he just decides to stay true to his word and go home.

"I'll be taking my leave th–"

"I've been meaning to call you…"

"Y-You have?" So maybe it wasn't a coincidence that he had jumped into him, maybe he had been waiting for him to turn up. He shots a hopeful look at him, but the man is already looking like he regrets having spoken those words.

Steve sighs.

"Do you… want to come to my place?" Bucky automatically tenses, but the blond smiles at him, encouragingly. "Come on, it's close. I'll make you dinner."

He turns around and starts walking, not wanting to give the man a chance to refuse, and apparently it works, because, after a few seconds of indecision, Bucky follows him home, silently and warily, like a stray cat that's just too hungry to feel fear anymore and gives up for the promise of food. Only it's not nourishment he's after, but answers. He has no memories he can trust, but unlike before, when he belonged to Hydra, his mind is not empty, and he needs to know why he's getting all these thoughts and emotions that have been roaming through his head since he fought this very same man on the bridge. He longs for answers even though he does not dare to dwell on those thoughts and feelings long enough to actually put them into questions.

Being here, at the apartment of the man who once was his target, and unarmed on top of that, goes against all of Bucky's instincts, and Steve can tell he's… uncomfortable, to say the least. He tries his best not to make any sudden movements, and he offers him a drink and something to eat, hoping he'll calm down eventually, but Bucky shakes his head and just sits stiffly on the chair.

Steve still places a water jug and a couple glasses on the table before sitting down too.

"So… have you thought of a name?" Bucky looks at him with questioning eyes. "Well, I'm not calling you the Winter Soldier, since you're obviously not him anymore, but you don't like Bucky, so you know, I thought maybe…"

The man seems to consider it for a few minutes before answering.

"When you found me you called me Sergeant…"

"Yeah, it was your rank."

"It didn't sound… wrong."

"Then Sergeant that is" he says, smiling at him again. Why does he always smile? Bucky has to look away.

"I read the files"

"And…?"

"I might… believe that James Barnes and I once were the same person…" that earns him another hopeful look from the blond, and Bucky shifts on his chair because it's getting uncomfortable.

"Did you read about…"

"The wipes. That's what you gave me the files for, what you wanted me to see." Steve nods. "Hydra tried it's version of the soldier-serum on two other war prisoners, aside from Barnes" Bucky's repeating the things Steve has already read about, but he lets him go on. "They had to wipe them too; 3 times with Bray, and another one after his first mission. It took 5 for Jordan. They both died during subsequent infusions of the serum"

"Yes. And… you?"

"21 before I started taking orders. More after every few missions, especially with certain targets…" he recites everything mechanically, like giving a report. "They had to wipe me 4 times before I finally killed Stark, and another one afterwards. The count stops at 32, but I know there was at least another one, after I fought you on the bridge. That one didn't work, though."

"None did" Bucky looks at him as if he had just woken up from a trance, and then tenses violently as the man gets off his chair and kneels before him. The blond takes his hands into his, and Bucky's breath hitches and he has to, needs to get away from here, from him, from this feeling of false safety, yet why isn't he running? Why is he letting him hold his hands?

But for some reason he's unable to move, so he just sits, stiller than a statue and inhaling through his nose because he's clenching his jaw so much he cannot even take breaths. Steve goes on.

"You're here. You remembered me. All of those wipes and you still knew me. Till the end of the line."

The older man closes his eyes and shakes his head. He's trying to speak but he can't come up with words, so in the end he just looks back into Steve's eyes, pleadingly.

"Please…" he whimpers.

He seems so hurt that the blond unconsciously lets go of his hold on his hands, and as soon as he does Bucky suddenly pulls away and stands, ready to leave.

"No, wait!" says Steve, standing too as his friend walks away and towards the door. "Sergeant, please…"

Bucky pauses with his hand already on the handle, but does not turn around.

Steve doesn't move either, certain that if he tries to come closer to his friend, he'll leave, but in the end, he knows there's nothing he can say to make him stay. Not for now.

"Do you have a place to stay, at least?"

Slowly, Bucky nods.

"You're eating, right?" he didn't seem to be starving, and he had shaved and his clothes were also clean, so he probably had been doing ok, but still, Steve feels the need to ask.

Again, a nod. The blond sighs.

"Well, if you need anything, just call, ok?" The man turns to briefly look at him.

"Thanks…" he mutters.

And with that, Bucky leaves.

- V7