#01 [ audio ]

[ontheropes]

What the hell is this? Was I captured by HYDRA again or something? That’s really not something I’d like to turn into a habit. This is Sgt. James Barnes, does anybody read me?

Steve? Steve, are you out there? Can you hear me at all? Dugan, Falsworth, anybody? Last I remember was falling from that train… Zola didn’t do anything to you guys either, did he?

Hell. I don’t like this. I can’t be sittin’ around here while there’s a war going on. How do I get outta this place? Is there a boat or a plane I could hitch a ride on? I kinda need to get back home. Got some… unfinished business.

Comments

[ontheropes]

Are we having two different conversations here or something? Make some goddamn sense, Steve. [ Bucky huffs and tightens his jaw a bit. ]

[originalavenger]

No. [ this is really hard for him okay ] After you... fell. We decided to finally take down HYDRA once and for all. I ended up on a plane with Schmidt, which was loaded with bombs to take out various cities. I disarmed all but one of them -- the one headed for New York. [ He falters a little bit, glancing away. ] There wasn't time to try and land the plane. I had to put it down then. I.. crashed. Into the arctic. And I woke up seventy years later.

[ontheropes]

[ Bucky just stares at him as he explains. There... was no way, right? Steve was just pulling his leg.

Except he knows Steve, he knows how he sounds when he's serious. And what his friend says takes the wind out of him. ]

So you... you had to do all of that without me?

[originalavenger]

[ Steve shakes his head just slightly, and puts a hand on his own chest. ] You were here.

[ontheropes]

[ Bucky's throat closes tight and he ducks his head, teeth clenched til they ached. He didn't want to believe this, any of it, but Steve wasn't a liar.

Now that he thinks about it, Steve does seem a bit... different. A little worn around the edges, something slightly older in his eyes. ]

Hell, that's not fair at all. [ He chokes it out and runs a hand through his hair. ] I was supposed to be there with you. Protect you forever. I should have been on that plane with you...

[originalavenger]

[ Steve just plain looks tired. He went so long with being able to out run it all, but with Bucky's arrival.. he can't out run it anymore. ] No. You woulda died. They think... it was the serum that allowed me to survive. I couldn't.. I couldn't stand it, knowing I got to survive and you... [ Froze to death. Fell off a train. Any way Steve looks at it, Bucky follows him, Bucky dies.

It makes him sick. ] You don't have to follow me, anymore.

[ontheropes]

[ Bucky shakes his head. If he had to die, he'd rather it be with Steve. On that train, or on a crashing plane... hell, if none of this had happened they'd probably be senile old men together in some nursing home right about now. Either way? He'd die with, or for, Steve. That was just his life and he was okay with that. Steve was worth it, that little guy from Brooklyn was more than worth it. ]

It ain't following when we're going the same direction anyway. [ He says it a bit hoarsely, his throat still tight. ] Didn't I make it clear when we were kids? You're stuck with me, Rogers.

[originalavenger]

[ Dying is dying, no matter what you're doing. He's already gotten you killed once, Bucky, he doesn't want it to happen again. And with the way things are on this island.. Steve takes a deep breath, and looks at him -- really looks at him.

His best friend -- the only brother he's ever had, really, the one person he trusted the most in his youth and adulthood, the one person Steve trusts the most at his back and at his side. The thing about being the person who dies? Is that you don't have to be the one left behind. It's always harder on the ones left behind. Dying is the easy part.

There's no getting Bucky to back down, though. Steve knows this, has experienced it multiple times, and despite being frustrated with it, he's also.. glad for it. The normality of it. He isn't happy or pleased, not by a long shot, but he does give in, nodding slightly as he glances away. ] I told you were taking all the stupid with you.

[ontheropes]

Yup. [ He smiles a bit and reaches up to pat him on the shoulder. Bucky knew that he was meant to be there for Steve, to protect him, do the dirty work, all the little things that even as Captain America he couldn't do. And despite being the younger of the two, he had to be Steve's big brother. ]

I don't plan on dyin' anytime soon though. Even if I'm 'meant' to, okay? But I know that won't stop you from frettin' like you always do, kiddo. Just don't give yourself a super soldier sized ulcer.

[originalavenger]

[ He pouts a little, thinking, and he looks up at Bucky, slightly confused. ] I don't think I can get ulcers.

[ontheropes]

[ Bucky stares at him for a moment before letting out a rather obnoxious sounding guffaw. Oh... oh Steve. ] Didn't mean it literally. But with how you are, it wouldn't surprise me if you managed to give yourself one.

Anyway. [ He wipes at his eyes with the back of his sleeve. Time to change the subject before it gets all emotional again. ] What do you do in the future?

[originalavenger]

[ Good plan. He's aware of what Bucky's doing, and he's not going to argue it. They don't need to say anything else. They know.

At his question, Steve grins a little, somewhat sheepish. ] Well.. I'm part of this group called the Avengers. We sort of... make sure that nothing bad happens to the world. The SSR became SHIELD, and when they found me, I joined.

[ontheropes]

The Avengers? That's a name. [ He smiles though, of course Steve would still be doing what he he was before. Bucky feels that ever familiar little swell of pride, oh Steve. ] Are there more of you super soldier types in the future then?