A Shared Cell Wall (Bucky Barnes X OC)

Steve

Winter stared down at the drenched man in the sand with wide, frightened eyes. He has never felt more lost or confused than he is right now. The man he has been assigned to kill for the last week or so claims to be his best friend from the 40's. Not only that, but said that his name is Bucky. Well James Buchanan Barnes actually.

He had failed. He had failed hydra badly. At this point if he was to return, the only thing he can believe happening is his termination.

His hands tighten to fists, Bucky's flesh hand still lingering with the feeling of the fabric of his target's uniform. Why had he pulled the man out of the water? Bucky knows he needs to return to base but his brain is so muddled with new images and flashes of a past life that he needs answers. His answers don't lie with hydra, they are with the man he is currently staring at who lays face down in the sand. A man who his past self has a life with in some fashion or another. Not wanting to signal the man into killing him when he wakes up, Bucky decides to sit in the sand by the bushes until he becomes conscious.

The blonde lays in the sand, his body slowly rising and falling as his breaths become more relaxed. Bucky observes his uniform and all the small intricate details and logos that litter the fabric. He has never had a uniform with such attention to the stitching before, always just given something that is visually appealing but does little for actual protection. The blonde man's hands are covered in little grains of sand, the water helping the little pebbles stick to his skin. Slowly his fingers dig into the sand as he begins to wake up. The water in his system comes running out when he sits up rapidly and clutches his stomach, letting out rough coughs.

His eyes are blurry for a few seconds before he shakes his head, letting water drip out of his hair and trying to see where exactly he is. The last thing Steve can remember is falling and being encapsulated in water. So the fact that he is staring down at sand and that he is breathing is only slightly confusing.

"What?" Steve whispers to himself in question, turning his body to look out at the water, seeing the smoke fill the sky and fire in the distance from the hangers. The distant rustling of leaves makes his shoulders tense back up again. The clicking of a gun is all he needs to hear to be on his feet and ready to hit whoever he needs to.

Bucky stands by the trees, a gun in his hand pointed at Steve and a massive level of uncertainty filling his eyes. Steve lowers his hands, and tilts his head in confusion. Was Bucky the one who pulled him out?

"You saved me?"

"Who are you exactly?" Bucky's voice is harsh and intense, something that Steve has never heard from his best friend before.

"I'm Steve. Steve Rogers. You know me, Bucky."

His metal hand hesitates on the trigger, finally lowering it just a few inches to a non lethal point. "Can you prove it?" While his tone is still harsh, there is a vulnerability to his words that Steve picks up on. He has never sounded more desperate for answers. For any information on who he is.

Steve simply nods his head. "I can take you somewhere where I can explain everything. You will be safe. I promise."

Bucky squints his eyes as if trying to read the sincerity on the man's face. For a split second he raises the gun in his hand again but his mind is screaming at him, begging for him to lower it so he can get some answers. Something in his body responds before he can fully evaluate the situation he has gotten himself into and the gun is back at his side, his hand still hooked around it.

Steve releases a breath of air he didn't know he was holding at the small step forward in trust that his friend has shown by not shooting him. He takes a few steps closer to Bucky before explaining where they are going.