Friend To Lover - Steve x Bucky

Chapter 2

Steve's POV
This masked person was really starting to get onto my nerves. First they killed Fury then they tried to attack me and now we got into a fight. I'm just trying to keep the city safe and here they are terrorizing people and putting them in danger. While fighting I noticed the masked figure was quite strong, strong enough to withstand my punches, even with the serum. Suddenly a crazy thought jumped into my head; "What if they have the serum too?" I shook my head and tried to focus, but the question had hit me so hard that I somehow missed the super powered arm barreling towards me. The impact of the punch was immediate and I went flying a few feet away. I got up as fast as my aching muscles let me as I prepared myself for the next punch but it didn't come. For a moment I thought that was strange, until I saw that the mask had fallen off of their face and they stood in shock. He just stood there looking at me waiting for my reaction, but it felt as if I was paralyzed.
No, it couldn't be. He was dead. I watched him fall of the train and die. But did you see him really die, or did he just fall into the abyss and you assumed he was dead without looking for a body? Some friend you are if you just assume that your best buddy is dead without proof. I couldn't believe it. I didn't move, or even flinch, still trying to process what was happening when he suddenly pulled a handgun out and took aim. Sam, or going by his hero name, Falcon came just in time. Kicking Bucky in the head, he came to my aid, saving me just mere second before a bullet would've gone through my skull. Bucky started running, and it took all my strength to not fall behind. After fighting him I had barely any energy. And especially now, the shock of seeing my best friend after thinking he died really took a lot out of me. Bucky started running faster and faster, never stopping as I started tiring. As he pulled ahead and turned a corner I caught a glimpse of his face. It was as if he hadn't changed at all. Except for the fact that there was a shallow cut on his cheek that ran from his nose to cheekbone that I gave him. Not to mention the bruises I inflicted with my shield. My legs finally gave out and just before I went tumbling to the ground I tackled Bucky and pinned him down and started saying things to him, hoping he would remember me.

Bucky's POV
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes and I'm your friend. I promise I won't hurt you."
How can he promise that? He doesn't know me, or what people have done to me. If he thinks that saying that he won't hurt me he can gain my trust he's wrong. I've tried to let people in, in the beginning, and they always hurt me, always. But looking into his eyes I see something familiar, but faint, something I haven't seen for years, recognition. Suddenly I'm trapped in my own mind again as memories are playing at top speed. Me and Steve at the show with two lovely women, me fighting off a bully who attacked Steve, Steve saving me in the war, me falling down a rocky ledge by a train, and Steve trying to save me but knowing it's too late. I don't want to believe it's him but his face isn't easily forgotten. But my masters said he left because he didn't care for me. For seventy years I believed that he left me to be tortured, beaten, abused and forgotten. But he's standing right here, in front of me, trying to make me see and understand who he is. All of a sudden, an overwhelming urge to cry, scream and kill washed over me and I knew I wasn't safe to be around someone for long. My independence didn't last for a long time, and when it did, it ended up with me being given electro-shock therapy. Once my control ran out, I would turn into a monster again, and Steve wouldn't be safe anymore. I struggled against his grip and only when I gave him a fist to his jaw did he let me go in surprise. I took that moment to run as fast as my legs would let me, and I ran until I was back in the shadows. Back where I couldn't hurt anybody.

Because I'm just a monster who only knows how to inflict pain upon itself and others.