"The Pony Express"

It was 1861, and for the past five months Steve Rogers had been defying expectations by riding for the Pony Express. The lighter the guy the faster the horse, right? The recruitment officers took a chance on him, and he was now one of the swiftest deliverers they had. He hadn't even fallen off his horse since the first day, when he had to show that he knew how to ride. Not that he actually knew how to ride until then, but he picked it up quickly, no problem.

A dangerous path, of course, and Steve had always had a penchant of trouble running into him. Bad luck, some could say. But he only had to dodge banditos a couple of times a month, so he was doing pretty well. If only the people he delivered to were less frustrating than the thieves (who always ran off with their tails – or hands – between their legs).

The two he was thinking of were at opposite ends of the line, and he'd gotten to be pretty friendly with them. One, Bucky Barnes, was from Steve's own home town. He was good with his hands, brought up a blacksmith, but he didn't know how to write all that well. He'd barely been learning two weeks before someone set him up with a pen pal program, at least that's how Bucky told it, and since then he'd been writing to a man named Phil Coulson. Bucky always had a bowl of chilli ready when Steve came with a letter from Phil. While Steve tucked in, Bucky would read the letter, sometimes getting Steve's help with a word, and then he'd write out a reply while Steve delivered the rest of the mail. Then he'd take the reply and ride out back east with it.

Phil was a nice man, a bit older than Bucky and Steve, and he was never without cornbread to feed Steve. Both he and Bucky clearly had a thing with bulking him up a bit. He'd also read his letter from Bucky, and write out a reply much faster. Then Steve would take it back west as soon as he could.

He knew some pen pals who only wrote once a month; these two wrote as often as he rode into their towns, and for all he knew they sent letters by other Pony Express representatives. After awhile, Bucky was shy of asking for Steve's help, and it seemed he'd bought himself a book on words. Steve wondered why, at first; he wasn't supposed to read mail, but Bucky didn't seem to care what Steve knew about him. It didn't click until he had to return to town without a letter for Bucky.

"Steve!" he called out as Steve meant to ride by, almost stopping out of habit. He pulled up his horse's reins.

"Whoa, Valkyrie," he said. "Yeah, Bucky?"

"Is there… any mail for me?"

Jesus, he hated to be the one to break it to him.

"N-not this time," he said.

"…Oh." Bucky deflated, and turned to head inside. Steve cleared his throat, and Bucky paused.

"Phil's been in an accident," he said. "He's in the hospital, not awake all that much. His neighbour, Ms. Hill, she told me. She promised to take the letter to the hospital soon as he wakes up."

"Phil's hurt?" Bucky said, running back to his side. "Is it bad?"

"I don't know."

Bucky chewed his lower lip, and glanced back the way Steve came.

"You head back tomorrow, right?" he said.

"Yeah."

"Can I… can I go with you?"

"What? Bucky, it's not the safest journey—"

"I know, but I wanna see him," Bucky said. "We've never met, an' if I never got that chance… I'd regret it forever." He took a step back, his gaze dropping to the ground. "Please, Steve? You know the way."

Steve wasn't sure whether he could take a civilian with him, whether he should've been encouraging whatever this way, kicking himself that he hadn't figured it out `til now. But Bucky's dejected expression told him everything he needed to know.

"Pack as much as you can and get a horse," he said. "I'll meet you here in the morning."

Bucky looked relieved, and Steve knew that he'd done the right thing.

This was for Pony Express Day. Any excuse to write about horses, even if they're just in the background, am I right? Read up about it on Days of the Year – my source of inspiration and information for many of these fics – and decided that it'd be a cute idea. Hey, it's Sebastian Stan's fault for mentioning 'Brokeback Mountain', okay? Wrong pairing, I know, but who cares?

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