Rip My Heart Out (Avengers Age of Ultron)

Chapter 1

"So what is this, week 14?" Steve asked, taking his seat beside me. He handed me an ice cream cone.

"Hmm." I licked my cone. "15, I think."

"It's weird how fast time seems to pass these days. Yet, its so slow at the same time." He said, licking his own cone.

"Well, when you're spending most every night in a different country, I would expect time would pass differently. Not only the ups and downs mentally, but jet lag and stuff, too, you know?" I said.

"Yeah." He mumbled.

"Do you even get jet lag, or did a no-jet-lag clause get written into your superhuman genes?" I asked.

"My what?" He chuckled slightly. "Yes, I still get jet lag. I have to sleep, just like everyone else."

"And are you?" I licked my cone again. "Sleeping, I mean?"

Steve paused before answering. "Sometimes."

Both of us stared ahead. The silence between us wasn't awkward, but I think we both knew what the next topic would be, and neither of us particularly wanted to discuss it. Finally, I asked the question.

"Any luck?" It was so quiet, I almost didn't hear myself.

Steve just shook his head.

"Do you think he knows your looking for him?" I asked.

Steve nodded.

Steve had been scouring the globe, looking for Bucky Barnes, A.K.A. The Winter Solider. Before Steve was ever Captain America, Bucky and him had been best friends. The kind of friend you expect to hold onto for your whole life. But during the war, the unthinkable happened and Steve lost Bucky forever.

Or so he thought. Bucky had come back, but he was different. The enemy, Hydra, had done something horrible to him and he was blindly fighting for them, completely unaware of whom Steve was. Before Bucky went missing though, Steve seemed to shake something in him. He told me that for a moment, he had seen the old Bucky. He knew he was still in there somewhere, and I believed him.

"Steve." I said, breaking another silence.

"Yes?" He turned his head slightly towards me.

"What if he doesn't want to be found?" I said, quietly.

Steve sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm sure he doesn't. It's my duty to find him though. To help him. He's my best friend. Do you know how many times he's stepped in and helped me?

"There was this one time; I was in the parking lot of the supermarket. I had just picked up some bread, and was about to walk home when I heard this woman scream. I ran over to the noise. It turns out that this woman's fiancé was drunk and trying to get her to come home with him. Well, she was out with her friends and didn't want to. And anyways, he was obviously a mean drunk. I couldn't blame her.

"Anyway, I felt like I should do something, but you know, before the serum, I wasn't exactly the most fight-ready cadet. That never stopped me though. I wanted to help this woman, so I approached the man and before I know it, he's throwing punches and telling me to run home to my mother. Now, I never give into bullies and this guy was definitely a bully. So I just kept standing up and taking more and more punches.

"Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, Bucky came out of nowhere. I still don't know why he was even around. He should have been home. Anyway, all he had to do was tap on the guys shoulder, distract him and then sock him one, right in the jaw. Suddenly the man's lying on the ground unconscious and Bucky's got me slung over his shoulder, dragging me home.