summary: you tell him over and over again, your day will come. you swear it will. the sun will shine on you if he gives it time. your day will come. one way or another.
cw: character death and major angst
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4 years ago...
you rest your forehead against his forehead, tucking strands of his long hair away from his face, "don't fall in love with me yet, soldier."
"why?" he grunts, his fingers tightly gripping your waist.
"because it's not our time. not yet." you rest your hand on his chest, keeping him at arm's distance. "because our day will come, and what a glorious day it will be."
3 years ago...
"you're upset."
he faces away from you, his shoulders rising and falling with angry heavers. you reach for his shoulder, steadying them. "am i not supposed to be?"
"no." he turns to face you, his jaw tight, his face weary and worn. you cup his cheek, doing your best to soothe the worry he wears on his face. "our paths will cross again. our day will come."
"and until then? what am i supposed to do knowing you're out there fighting and i'm stuck here in cryo?"
"you have faith, my love."
he rests his hand against yours, the one caressing his cheek with a gentleness he had long forgotten. "i thought you said we weren't supposed to fall in love yet."
"our day will come." you swear it will. "one day, the sun will shine on us. just be patient."
2 years ago...
"bucky," you sigh. your eyes flash to your packed gear. "my love, it's simply not our time yet."
"you keep saying that!" he shouts in frustration, sitting at the edge of his bed in his wakandan hut. "when will it be our time? when will it be our day?"
"i don't know," you admit.
he cups the back of your neck. "we're waiting for a time that may never come. what if this is all we get? right here and now? what if this is our time?"
"we'll know when it's our time. it will come," you insist. "i'm sure of it."
his pleading eyes bore into yours. "how do you know that?"
"i see it. in my dreams. in my heart. it's right over the horizon. one day, we'll feel the sun shine on us."
"dreams aren't always our reality," he reminds you. "there's always going to be another fight around the corner."
"perhaps." you softly exhale, a sad smile pulling at the corner of your mouth. he takes your hand, urging you back to his bed. "but it won't be our fight anymore. our battles dwindle day by day. and right now, our battles force us into a goodbye. it won't be forever. one day, our fates will align."
you lie beside him. you can tell he doesn't quite believe you. he strokes the hair from your face, stroking your cheek with his calloused fingertips. "what will it look like? our day?"
you can see it in your mind. even if he can't.
a day without war looming over the horizon. a day where he could lie beside you without worrying about your next goodbye. a day when you could look over at his sleeping face without cuts and bruises, from battles you were fighting both alone and together, privately and publicly, marring his peace.
a glorious day, indeed.
"it'll be beautiful," you explain, resting your head on his chest. you listen to the steady beat of his heart, he strokes up and down your spine in perfect synchrony. "there'll be no more tears, no more pain or heartache. and we'll always stay like this. we'll have everything. we'll know the joy of falling in love over and over again. we'll know it every single day."
"what if i've already fallen in love?"
"one day falling in love won't hurt so much. one day we won't need to say goodbye." you lie with him, holding onto him for as long as you can. your next goodbye is so close, his arms around you only wards them off for so long, but it wouldn't always be like this. you were sure of it. "our day will come, my love."
1 year ago...
you don't realize it until it's too late, until the damage is irreparable. he sucks in a breath, clutching his bloody abdomen. he sinks to his knees, falling in a heap.
"bucky?" you scream, scrambling to his side. you lean over him, descending into a full panic. your heart crumbles along with the future you planned with him, all before your very eyes. "no, no, no! please, please, please."
your hands search for the wound through the gushing blood. he's losing too much too fast. even for a super soldier.
his jarringly cold hand, a terrifying deviation from his normal warmth, reaches out to stop you. he grips your trembling hand, holding it tightly. he strokes calming patterns into the back of your hand. he's accepted what you never would. his time has come.
tears burn, slipping down your cheeks. "no. no. it's not your time. please."
he looks up at you, smiling. all the years of worry, of agony, of torment have melted off his face. he looks at peace as he lies in a pool of his own blood. his flesh hand rests against your face as he mutters his last words, "our day will come, my love."
now...
a choked whimper leaves your mouth. you look down, watching blood slowly soak through your shirt. a single shot. right between your ribs.
the agent responsible takes off, leaving you all alone. you went off on your own. no one was coming to save you. not this time.
you slump to the ground, your head lying against the hard pavement. your eyes squeeze shut, feeling as the life drains from you.
the warm whisper of a summer breeze tells you to not spend your last moments on this earth shrouded in darkness like you'd done for the last year, it tells you to open your eyes, so you do.
brightness bursts forth as you smile up at the blue sky, the sun finally shining down on you. it reminds you of him, of the blue eyes you held so dear. it reminds you of your promise to him. a day that would shine brightly on you, a day for only the two of you.
you're on the brink of fulfilling your promise.
you lie on the ground, staring up at the sky. tears fall from the corner of your eyes, down to your ear. you look over at the vast, unending horizon, just like you pictured all those years ago.
you smile as warmth consumes you. it's as beautiful and glorious as you promised him it would be. "our day has come, my love."
