To the end of the line - stucky

Splash

Bucky grumbles as he wakes up with a stiff back and stinging cuts. He was okay for the most part, but living like this was starting to take a toll on him. It was only a few days ago since they'd caught their first rabbit and had dinner together, talking about the war. He was sure, at that point, that they'd be okay. But it's just been mostly downhill since then.

Steve has been struggling since the crash, especially with his leg, he needs a doctor. But last night was worrying Bucky. Steve was starting to struggle mentally, he was worrying that the team would never rescue them. And if Bucky was being honest, he was worried too. They should have been here by day three, but it was now day nine if he was remembering correctly, something had gone wrong. He hoped they just couldn't find them, instead of something going wrong during the mission at the last minute like their situation.

Before he could worry too much, Steve grunted from beside him. He looked down to see the messy blonde hair, the tips of it tickling his nose. It's no secret that Steve had been getting more and more agitated recently, yesterday being the worse of it. His leg was hurting, it was cold, and they were still here over a week later (though it felt like so much longer). So Bucky was trying to do everything he could to keep Steve as calm as possible, including rubbing his back gently and massaging his scalp through the mop of hair as he woke up.

It took Steve a while to fully wake despite starting to fidget long ago. His eyes were heavy, and no matter how much he wanted to open them, they just didn't want to cooperate. He was full of fatigue and aching muscles, his body wanted to go straight back to sleep as soon as it woke.

He could slowly start to sense the familiar hands running through his hair and fought the sleep back again before looking up at Bucky. The man did look better, but the large gash down the side of his face still looked red and sore. Actually, he looked a mess with the different cuts across his face and the messy haircut sticking everywhere. Not to mention the scruff of a beard that had grown through slowly and the normal wear and tear of pale skin and sunken eyes, but he did look a lot better than the day of the bear. Steve involuntary shook as he remembered Bucky's bloodied, unconscious body lying in the snow.

"Are you okay?" Bucky asked gently.

Steve wasn't sure. He felt funny, and he didn't know how to explain it, and he certainly didn't have the energy to try. So he just nodded and nestled his head back down.

Bucky was worried when Steve let out two small dry coughs from his stomach but knew better than to ask. The man had been running slightly hot for a couple of days and every so often would have these small coughs. It was hard for him to get sick from the serum, so he really hoped it wasn't some bad case of pneumonia or something. Of course, it could have been from his leg. It didn't look great when Bucky checked it the last time, but he refused to think any further about that, any reason involving his bad leg wouldn't be good. But it's fine, they'll be rescued before anything can get worse.

"Are you awake, or you gonna go back to sleep?" He asked as the man hadn't moved in a while.

"M' awake", Steve mumbled sleepily, making Bucky smile.

He didn't move for a while, so Bucky held him and played with his hair, but Steve just seemed exhausted.

"Hey Stevie, we need some food".

The blonde flinched as he understood where this was going. Bucky kept stroking his hair to try and avoid another meltdown or panic attack whilst speaking calmly.

"We didn't eat anything yesterday, and we won't have anything until I go and get some".

Steve started moving, and Bucky knew he was crying, so he didn't say anything for a few more minutes until the shakes had died down.