Sambucky Oneshots

it hurt. 1/2

-846 words- (angst!)

Five seconds.
It was only five seconds.
He could have come back.
He didn't.
He chose to spend the rest of his life with a woman who he only knew for two days.
Why couldn't he have come back?

The day after Steve returned, Bucky broke.
He felt his heart shatter when he realized Steve wasn't going to change his mind.

"Together to the end, Buck!"

It clearly didn't mean anything, just short puppy love, brought on by Steve's need for a partner.

It still hurt when he saw him sitting on the bench, just watching the sunset. Ignoring all the history they had, just for a girl.

It hurt more the day after, when he didn't have anywhere to go, to sleep.
The Avengers would be grieving too much to deal with him being there, he would make it worse.

The air was brisk, funneled harshly through the tight buildings in New York.
The park was almost empty, people being scared off by the warnings of a storm that afternoon.

When the rain slowly started to sprinkle down, Bucky finally settled down on a bench under a willow tree. Closing his eyes as he finally let the tears flow.
Where nobody could tell whether it was the rain, or him, crying.

The rain gushed down in heavy streams, pummeling Bucky's face as he sobbed silently. The wind blew in every direction possible, tangling his wet hair.

There was a small crunch of gravel at the end of the pathway as Bucky finally let himself let go, not putting on a taut smile for once.

The crunching got quicker, sounding more like footsteps as it got closer.
Was it footsteps? Probably not, who would have gone looking for him?

"Bucky! what in hells name are you doing out here?!"
His eyes slowly slid open to reveal Sam, Steve's friend, a few feet away.
What was he doing here? Shouldn't he have been mourning his friend? Talking to the man who had been gone for seventy years?

His mouth couldn't work, he was freezing, the rain had frozen him straight to his bones and left him to be tossed around by the harsh wind.
Sam stared at him for a second, then jogged the last few steps to him.

"Holy shit, how long have you been sitting out here? It's freezing,"
Bucky finally tried to move, wanted to get away from Sam, he didn't deserve somebody worrying after him anyways.

He propped his elbow on the rest and swung his leg around the seat, almost banging it against a tree next to him, he then he tried to launch himself up to a assumably correct stance beside Sam.

Instead of just shaking off the cold, and walking briskly off away from Sam, his legs gave out from being cold and still for so long. Sending him falling directly onto the sharp gravel.

He closed his eyes quickly, bracing himself for a hard impact, it would be sure to leave a few scratches.
But he instead felt an arm wrap itself around his waist, slowly pulling him up and steadying him against another person's chest.

Bucky opened his eyes, only to be met with a red shirt blocking his vision. He tried to jolt away from the contact, only succeeding in being pulled tighter to Sam's chest.

"If you really think I'm going to let you walk around basically frozen in Central Park, you would be wrong."

Bucky tried to respond by pushing against the arms around him, this time he wasn't met with a tighter grip, he was spun around and lifted deftly into the air by his waist. He was stunned for a moment, not having ever been carried by another person.

The warmth felt nice after sitting in the cold rain for three hours, it was barely anything, but it felt like a bonfire through his clothes. He shuddered, remembering that he was being held by somebody he barely knew, and started to twist his shoulders to wiggle out of Sam's grip.

"Hey, hey, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. Steve told me to check on you, I didn't know I'd be faced with a half frozen person out here."

Bucky tensed, Steve sent him? Now he's pretending he cares? After what happened he tries so hard to make himself the hero again?

Sam awkwardly shifted his grip on Bucky, securing him so he couldn't move his left arm.

"Well, actually, uh, Steve didn't actually send me. I saw you head towards the park, then it started to rain.. and.. yeah."

Oh. That was.. new.

Why does he care about Bucky? He could have left him in the rain to get sick, then sent Steve to go deal with him.
Why does he care?

"Sorry, but I've really got to get you heated up, you're going to get hypothermia with the way you're going. Do you mind if I carry you to my apartment?"

Bucky coughed, surprised at his offer. Then nodded hesitantly. He wouldn't be very to be useful in combat if his toes fell off.

(to be continued!)