a request!! DistrictHogwarts746, thanks! if you want a more specific time period let me know and ill do a p2!

....hope u dont mind a lil winterfalcon at the end

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Bucky and Steve were a package deal. It was common knowledge, and after Bucky's division met Steve, it was clear that everything one did, so did the other.

Little did they know, that included getting a super soldier serum.

You see, Steve got his from where he did in traditional stories, in a well-lit room surrounded by friendly faces.

But Bucky? You say, but author, he didn't get his until he fell off the train! False. 

Bucky was injected with his serum while he had been captured, in a damp room that smelled faintly of skunk and looked like some sort of dungeon. The faces that peered down at him while he writhed in anguish were not friendly at all, they were evil and mean, radiating awful vibes. Bucky was injected mere days before he had been saved by Steve, and remembered none of it. 

For all he knew, he was just plain old James.

Then, he began to get his suspicions. He broke the training equipment easily, ran faster with less effort. Something was wrong, and he began to realize that it was because whatever Steve could do, so could he. 

He didn't tell Steve, and hid his abilities. He didn't want to steal Steve's spotlight, and was ashamed of his powers. He was given them by the enemy, why should he use them?

So, Bucky continued to be plain old James, and pretended until that fateful day on the train when Steve, his best friend in the entire world, fell from hundreds of feet up to his death. The only thing that Bucky could register was the cold wind, harsh and unforgiving as it froze his tears to his face.

Bucky took up the mantle of the Winter Soldier a few days later. Winter for the cold that took his only companion, and Soldier because what was he if not a U.S. soldier?

He defeated Red Skull like Steve had been trying to do, and crashed his plane into the ice not because there was no other option but because why would he want to live in a world without Steve?

The plan failed though, and Bucky woke up seventy years later in a futuristic world where Steve still was dead.

He had no choice but to continue being the Winter Soldier, so he did. It may not be his world, but he'd protect it. It's what Steve would have done. 

Going through the motions was something that Bucky did well, and he managed to stay bland for years, faking feelings, until he saw that blonde hair and blue eyes that he knew so well.

"Steve?"

"Who the hell is Steve?"

And just like that, Bucky's carefully rebuilt life came crashing down in balls of fire, collapsing because of just five words, five words that hurt his so bad in his chest, made him ache like the entity that ran the universe had finally decided to make him pay for his crimes.

Who the hell is Steve. Who indeed?

Steve was his best friend, a kind soul, someone who would never choose his own life if there were others to favor. Steve was a thousand pounds of punk stuffed into a thirty year old body. Steve was an angel with a heart of gold, but this wasn't Steve.

The man opposite of Bucky on the bridge was a weapon. Hydra's weapon, dressed in black and red with a metal arm, those baby blue eyes as cold as the ice that Bucky had spent too long in.

Bucky didn't give up on Steve, despite how many times Tony teased him about it, because Tony didn't understand.

Steve was his last tie to the world that he had come from, the last connection to simpler times when everything was a nickel. Steve was the one person that Bucky truly loved, his best friend, and if Bucky had to spend the rest of his life here, Steve would make it bearable. His family was gone, all his friends gone, but Steve was here. 

Bucky wouldn't abandon the Killer Captain, because under those eyes of steel was his best friend.

* * *

It took too long in Bucky's opinion, but soon he had Steve back. Just in time for the accords, too.

"Barnes, we need to be kept in check." Tony had said, and Bucky had exploded.

"I don't care what the hell you think. If we need to be somewhere and they say no, the resulting deaths are our fault. And we need to be kept in check? Were we going to nuke New York and with it, the entire population? Were we the ones to lock up a child because instead of letting a blast go off in a densely populated area, she directed it elsewhere? No, Stark, they were, and you did. There's no we about this, you can forget my signature." 

And he had left, getting the text about Peggy's death. Of course he visited, she deserved his thanks for taking care of Steve when he wasn't there. 

Sam had followed Bucky to find Steve, and they did. 

Civil War, as everyone was calling it, was hectic. And going into hiding wasn't fun, but Steve found sanctuary in Wakanda and Bucky rested easy knowing that he was safe.

That is, until Thanos came along with his ugly potato chip chin.

And, after all the fighting that it had taken to get Steve back, after all the blood that Bucky had given to keep his best friend, after all the ties that he had cut, he heard his name and looked over just in time to see Steve fade away in a gust of dust.

Bucky had dropped to him knees and touched the ground, hoping it was false, but it wasn't. Steve was gone, again, and had left Bucky alone with people that had nothing next to Steve. Bucky was alone, again, despite fighting tooth and nail to stay with someone. 

So, yeah, Bucky never gave up. He didn't settle down and forget about the fallen. He never gave up, he kept coming up with ideas that maybe would save Steve, but none of them came into fruition. 

Do you know how long five years is? Five years is too long, especially when you feel utterly and desolately alone. 

Except he wasn't alone, he had to remind himself. He had Sam.

Then Scott came back and he had hope. He reluctantly worked with Tony because it was his only option, and he got Steve back. It took work and a hell of a lot more fighting, but he did it. He stayed strong and fought for his best friend, only to look into Steve's eyes after the battle was over and see something he didn't want to see.

Sadness. 

Steve didn't want to be here, he felt like he didn't belong in the future.

So, despite all of the fighting that Bucky had done to just get him back, he offered to let Steve return the Stones instead of himself and stayed stoic. He hugged Steve, but there wasn't emotion from his friend.

Steve had made his decision and no matter what, Bucky would support his best friend til the end of the line, which would be sooner than they thought.

* * *

As Steve stepped up to the platform and sent Bucky a happy little smile, Bucky felt tears fill his eyes. He closed them and looked down as Steve flashed away, only to never return. 

He felt a weight on his shoulder, and when Bucky opened his eyes, he saw Sam's hand. Bucky turned and hugged Sam, feeling his tears finally fall.

"Why didn't he want to stay? Did I do something wrong?" Bucky had whispered.

Sam had shaken his head softly. "No, Buck. Yo did everything that you could. Some people just aren't meant to stay."

And so Bucky had stayed, hugging Sam tightly, and realized that maybe everything he needed was already there, right in front of his nose.

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yall if u got requests... lemme know