(I did it! MarvelousMarble

Bucky had been gone on a mission for days now. It was supposed to only last one day. It was a solo mission and Steve hated it. it was Fury's awful idea. Bucky had been doing so much better lately and he didn't want that to get ruined. Of course, Fury didn't care. He just wanted the job done and Bucky was the one to do it. 

It was 4 am and Steve was laying in bed when he heard the clang of keys, but it sounded like whoever was using them was struggling a bit. He got up cautiously. When he was rounding the corner, the door opened and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar ponytail in the darkness. It was all wrong though. The longer he looked, the more problems he saw. The most obvious one was his missing metal arm. "Buck?"

Bucky's head turned in Steve's direction, but his knees gave out and he would've hit the ground if Steve hadn't caught him.

"Buck, honey, what happened?" he asked as he held him up.

"A lot..." even his voice sounded bruised.

Steve worried carried him to the bathroom and flicked the light on. Bucky's skin was as pale as snow which made the bruises that much more brutal and prominent. He very gently set him on the edge of the tub and grabbed the first aid kit as he still held him up with one arm.

"Stevie, m'okay..." he mumbled.

"No, you're not. You should've at least gone to Bruce when you got home..."

"I missed you..."

"God, you're such an idiot..."

"I know..."

Steve sat on the closed toilet and faced Bucky. He opened the first aid kit and grabbed the peroxide and cotton swabs. He got to work on cleaning and bandaging all the cuts and scrapes. Although it must've hurt, Bucky didn't make a sound. 

"Buck?"

"Yeah...?"

"Where's your arm?"

"I lost it..."

"How in the world did you lose your arm?"

"I'm pretty sure it got shot off... I don't remember..."

Steve cupped his cheek gently, "how many were there?"

"At least a hundred..."

"You should've called for backup."

"I had it covered."

Steve sighed and finished patching him up in silence. Bucky's arm was very much broken and he wrapped it up as best he could since Bucky refused to go to any sort of actual doctor at the moment. He just seemed to want Steve and he didn't mind that. He did promise to go to Bruce in the morning. 

The last band-aid went on Bucky's nose and he smiled softly. It was a pink Hello Kitty band-aid and he knew it would take him a while to notice. He leaned forward and kissed his less bruised cheek, "how about some tea and then bed? Maybe even a warm bath to clean you up a bit  more."

Bucky nodded, "that sounds nice..."

Steve smiled sweetly and helped him with all of that. It was good to have him back. Even though Fury was an a*s and Tony was going to be one too when he found out that he had to make Bucky an entirely new arm.