I Will Wait For You [ stucky ]

five

1610 words ✓

xxx

steve

xxx

"Bucky, no!"

I fly forward as my eyes burst open, ending the nightmare. My face is wet, though I can't figure out if it's from sweat or tears. Dragging my hand down my face I find that it's a mixture of both.

Great.

A quick glance at my phone tells me it's 4 am, so I have about two hours left before my alarm goes off. My hand trembles as I place it back on my bedside table and I realise I'm probably not going to fall back asleep any time soon. Sweaty, cold, and definitely still shaky--it takes a little more effort to push myself out of bed--I decide to shower and begin the day. An early start is supposed to be better for the soul or something, right.

Thirty minutes later I'm showered, dressed, and still trembling. Buck's face flashes in the back of my mind, his eyes wide and full of terror.

Why couldn't you grab him?

You lost him once, and now he's slipping away again.

Letting go of a breath I hadn't meant to hold on to, I leave the house to get a headstart on my morning jog. Surely, Sam won't be to bothered.

xxx

As I take off around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, I let the cold morning air sting my skin until it's numb. A million thoughts fly through my head, but they're all about one person. My best friend, my other half, my... my wrist burns, and my chest echoes the feeling. How long has it been, since I've seen him? Weeks? Months? Does he ache the way I do? Does he even care?

A lifetime ago, he would've come running home, pulled me in his arms and hugged me like he'd never get the chance again. And now? Now, he's running away. Out of fear, or hatred, or disgust, I have no idea, but God, would I give anything for some explanation. Sam and I have been searching for so long, and Natasha's finally come to help out, but I honestly don't think she'd tell me if she did happen to find him. After HYDRA's files were leaked onto the internet, I did a bit of reading for myself, and found that the Winter Soldier program had a few strings connected to the Red Room. I know better than to bring this up to Nat, but that doesn't stop me from wondering if she knew more about Buck than she'd let on.

Now that I thought about it, Nat did disappear yesterday rather quickly, and for seemingly no reason at all. Maybe she had gotten some sort of lead?

Or maybe...

My feet catch on the ground and I hit the ground with a thud, scraping my face on the ground.

"Ah, God..." I hiss and pull myself up into a sitting position, leaning against a tree. A brush of my fingers to my cheek tells me that I took a harder fall than I thought, because I'm bleeding.

"Damn, Steve. We might need to get your hip replaced if you're gonna make a habit of this."

Closing my eyes and letting out a huff of slight amusement, I tip my head back until it rests against the trunk of the tree. "Nat. I was just thinking about you."

"And the thought of me sends you into the ground?" She asks, kneeling beside me. "If I knew any better, I'd think you were falling for me."

My eyes open and I turn to face her, giving her a look so dry not even Chapstick could fix it.