Frost Bite ( avengers fanfic)

Chapter 2

Neither of them spoke as Bucky lead to his current home. He wasn't sure whether or not he could truly trust the kid, but he saw how the agents acted. They weren't there for him, they might not have even known he would be there. They were hunting the kid, he couldn't just leave them out on the streets, knowing HYDRA was close. 

They reached the apartment building Bucky was staying in and entered through a back way, keeping out of sight of any civilians walking past.  After climbing up a stairway that smelt of something sour and was in dire need of a deep clean, Bucky entered his apartment, the kid not far behind. 

After a quick once over, to make sure they were alone, Bucky turned to the kid, unsure of what to say.

"So, ice powers."

"Kind of." Bucky could only nod at the short answer. "You're the Winter Soldier" They continued, trying to ease the awkwardness of this whole exchange. 

"I was. I'm not him anymore."  The kid looked at the older, and much taller, man in  confusion.

"Then who are you?" Bucky was taken aback by this simple, but complicated question. Who was he?

"I-I'm Bucky. What's your name?" 

"They called me Frost Bite, I don't know if it's a name, it's more like the Winter Soldier, you know, a title." The kid said seriously and was in deep thought. 

"So, what do you want to be called?" The kid did not respond for some time, apparently very taken back by this simple question, just like Bucky himself had been earlier. Bucky tried again. "Do you remember anything other than HYDRA? Like before?" At this the kid laughed slightly.

"What do you mean before? And yes I remember everything. But my life has only been HYDRA, wasn't yours? Isn't everyone's who is apart of it?" Bucky could only look down at the kid in utter heartbreak. They have no idea what a normal life is, or even what the normal world is like. They weren't forced into it, they were born. 

Bucky didn't respond just sighed, picked up a half empty bottle of vodka and sat on his bed. 

They were in utter confusion. What were they meant to do? sit down beside the Soldier? Sit opposite on the floor? Or were they just meant to keep standing awkwardly in they middle of the room? Does he really not even recognise me? I mean sure that's what brainwashing does to a guy but still, he seems like he's more there than ever before. Eventually they made the decision to test the waters and sit next to Bucky. 

It was silent, neither knowing where to go in conversation. So instead they were thinking. They thought on what Bucky had said. Before HYDRA. 

'Their could have been a before?'

The idea of it seemed ridicules. I mean sure, they knew not everyone was like them. They were different. They were the experiment that went, 'right'. But to think of what a normal life could have been is impossible. They had nothing to match what that would look like to. So they need to get one.

"Did you have a life? Before HYDRA?"

"Yes. I barely remember it though." Bucky replied quietly. "They, uh, wiped my memory a lot, and put me in ice? I'm not sure exactly sure what it was but it stopped me from-"

"Ageing, yeah I know." Bucky looked at them weirdly, a wave of suspicion washed over him. 

"How do you know that?"

"Seriously?" They paused, so he doesn't remember. "You were HYDRA's prized possession, people talked about you. And I have enhanced hearing so I heard what they said." They decided not to say how they actually knew about this. The fact that they already knew of each other, spent nearly a year beating each other up, that they witnessed what HYDRA did to him. It would be too much for the Soldier that couldn't remember. It was better that he didn't.