I've Loved You A Hundred Years (I'll Wait For A Hundred More) [STUCKY]

Chapter 7

Tony didn't leave after that. He ended up staying in a guest bedroom a few down from Bucky, which the man didn't mind, but it was strange to see the billionaire in the morning looking like an every day slob.

"His hair is everywhere in the mornings and it's so frustration. You'd think I wouldn't mind it so much since I have a lot of hair myself, but it's different. His hair is short, he can just run his fingers through it and it's okay - Another thing I hate about his hair, he doesn't even use a brush." Bucky complained pettily.

"I thought you two were making up."

"Sure we are, so?" Bucky rose a brow at the pod even though Steve couldn't see it. "I remembered something else too..." He licked his bottom lip with a sigh.

"What is it?"

"I just...You remember, Susie?"

"You mean Susan?"

"No, Susie, your neighbour that used to feed the stray dogs." Steve hummed.

"Oh, yeah, Susie. What about her?"

"Well, I just...You know my memories returning slowly, in bits and pieces, but I...She was one of my targets, Steve." Bucky whispered in shame. "All because she married the wrong guy." He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends gently to ground himself and not fall into the pit of self-pity.

Steve didn't reply.

"Steve?"

"It wasn't you, Buck."

"It was a version of me though, Steve."

"I won't pretend to understand, Bucky, but the Winter Soldier, he...He..." Steve went silent before a loud blare sounded. Bucky flinched, ducking down on instinct before he realised it was coming from Steve's monitor.

"Steve? Steve!" Bucky stood instantly to touch the pod, but someone slipped by him, voices he could hear by didn't really listen to. He jolted back when the ice on Steve's arm shattered, snowing to the bottom of the pod as his fist met thick glass. A crack blossomed on the pod, but didn't reach to the other side of the glass, simply there like a shocking reminded.

Sam grabbed his shoulders suddenly, turning him away from the pod to look at him. "His brain is panicking, Bucky, it's gone into a flight or fight mode." Sam told him, curt and urgent. "We need to calm him down, any suggestions, sunshine?" The nickname wasn't used to make him feel good, that was for sure.

"I- Shit." Bucky racked his brain for any ideas, shaking Sam's hands off his shoulders in favour of standing in front of his pod. He placed a gentle hand to the glass, right over the crack, as if he could sink through it and grasp Steve's hand.

"Steve. Steve, focus on my voice, okay? Remember the time we went to the beach? You almost drowned, and I saved you, and I remember your mum was so angry when you got home because you burnt so easy that you were blistering on your shoulders." He laughed a bit as he spoke, biting back the burn of tears as Steve's fingers slowly stopped moving to only twitch every few seconds. "Yeah, it was like cooked steak on your shoulders. My mum, you remember Katherine, she was so angry at me. Sarah and her were like a tag team, guilting me and caring for you like the stubborn big baby you were."

"It's working..." He heard Tony mutter from behind him.

"After the burn went away, it scarred. You used to poke fun at me for it. Call me a jerk for letting you get hurt. You know, Katherine would probably roll in her grave, or wherever she is, on it still. I know you don't have it anymore, I checked." Bucky smirked at Tony and Sam's disgusted noises.

"Good news, he's stable..." T'Challa annouced, Steve still once more. "Bad news, the poisons spread." Bucky's eyes widened, looking over Steve's body to notice the veins of his left arm completely black like ink.