The Twin Flame: Grumpy x Sunshine

I Wish You Would

"I wish you would come back, wish I'd never hung up the phone like I did. I wish you knew that I'd never forget you as long as I'd live..."

"Could've used that shield," Bucky snarkily quips, still laying on top of Sam after their woefully unsuccessful brush with the Flag Smashers.

"Get off of me," Sam grunts, shoving Bucky off of him and into the grass.

For a moment, they both lie in the overgrown field side by side. Bucky shuts his eyes, and though he can't remember the confrontation he had with you as the Winter Soldier, he imagines that his body ached as badly as it did in this moment.

There were plenty of differences as the two of them went head to head with the Flag Smashers. Firstly, they didn't hold back. It was almost reckless the way they didn't hold back. The raging flames could've easily destroyed their own trucks along with the vaccines they so intensely fought to retain.

Another thing that was immediately clear to Bucky, they didn't have any idea of how to control their abilities.

He remembers one of the few conversations he'd shared with you one on one. You confided in him that you weren't always able to control yourself, in moments of extreme duress or panic, sometimes you slipped up. But you'd worked hard in your twenty something years to have an impressive grasp over yourself.

And, regardless of your goofy, effervescent personality paired with your sweet disposition and wide eyed gaze, you maintained formidable amounts of discipline.

The Flag Smashers didn't have years, they'd had months, if even that.

Up until this moment, he mostly agreed with Sam, you shouldn't be dragged into this when you were off on your own quest.

Up until this moment, he was content knowing that you'd found some semblance of peace without him dragging you down. It was how he'd justified doing what he did.

Now, he just wishes you were here. He wishes you would come back.

"They were all like her, Sam."

"I know," Sam roughly exhales, slowly sitting up. He turns to Bucky, still laying down in the grass, "You're welcome, by the way."

"Shut up, Sam," Bucky grunts, standing up in one smooth movement.

Sam hauls himself up, dusting himself off as the two men turn to watch the new Captain America and his partner still fighting on top of the semi-trucks. They remain watching them, until the inevitable moment when the Flag Smashers overwhelm the two of them, kicking them both down onto the road.

Even though a chuckle almost escapes his mouth, Bucky could almost feel bad for them. Almost.

Without exchanging any words, they climb out of the field, and begin their trek to the airport.

"Sorry about Redwing," Bucky offers after a few moments in silence.

"No, you're not," Sam bluntly states. As they continue walking, he turns to look at Bucky's pensive expression. "What's going on in that big cyborg brain of yours?"

"It's computing," Sam continues, snickering as Bucky maintains the thoughtful, furrowed expression on his face. "You know what? I can actually see the gears turning. Oh no, they're malfunctioning, shutting down. And now it's on fire."

They were a lot of things that Bucky was thinking. Like how was the man that was so incredibly overprotective of you suddenly so okay with letting you leave? How'd you come into your powers? He sort of knew the answer to that, at least, he had the answer that you, Sam, and Steve had: you were born this way.