There was so much that he didn’t understand, begging to be questioned, but Cam was also pretty sure the answers wouldn’t make sense to him. Looking at Bucky, he seemed pretty determined. “Sae ye’re jest gonna run an'hope they’ll get tired of et?” He heard his words ring like a bell, true as sunrise. They both knew these people weren’t the kind to let go.

“Well, staying put is practically suicide. Besides, I’m good at disappearing. They didn’t find me this time because they knew where I was hiding. It was just dumb luck and a bad move on my part.” Bucky shrugged as if it were casual, as if they hadn’t nearly killed him or worse. 

He looked none the wiser. “What’s Hydra?” Alive? “I dunno.. I jest tauld ‘em th'thruth that should be,” he said with a shrug.

Campbell didn’t understand half the stuff Bucky said. They’d made him into something? “Useful?” Cam frowned deeper. “Ye gonna be okay tho’ right?” He didn’t think people should be defined by their use.

“That’s a long and complicated story. I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you,” Bucky admitted quietly. His brows furrowed in confusion at Cam’s talk about truth. It admittedly didn’t make any sense to him, but none of the little bit he remembered of the last seventy years made much sense, so it wasn’t so different from business as usual. 

“I’ll be fine. I heal fast,” Bucky said vaguely. He hadn’t confided anything in anyone since his escape, and the fact that he oddly found himself trusting Cam was at odds with the paranoia that kept him alive. 

“I dun get m'door almost knocked down by a secret service ev'ry day, ya know.” It was a joke but fell flat. “Ef.. ye know, uhm-” Cam tried to work up to asking why they were looking for Bucky. Why they insisted he was dangerous. What that video had been. It was a difficult thing to ask. Campbell wasn’t afraid of Bucky getting angry, though, but rather worried he’d hurt his feelings.

Either way, that’s when Bucky poked at the hole in his side. “Dun stick yer finger in, ya plonker!” he burst out, more vehemently than he meant to.

Bucky stiffened at the mention of secret service. He really had to tell Cam something, at least. Probably best to at least make sure his friend understood that it wasn’t any legitimate government entity after him. “They’re not the secret service, Cam. The only people Hydra serves is Hydra. I still don’t know how either of us made it out of that alive.”

“A bit confused,” he admitted, though cracked a smile even though he felt rather adrift and worried about what the future would bring. “Better now that ye’re awake. I thought ye might not make et or sumthin’..” Cam took a deep breath and got up so he could sit next to Bucky. He did look better, at least. A small mercy. “How are ye?”

“Confused?” Bucky returned the smile, despite not feeling like there was much to smile over. 

“I’ve survived worse,” he admitted, expression softening further when Cam sat beside him. Anyone else, and he probably would have found a way to put more space between them, but he trusted Cam, for whatever reason. Bucky chalked it up to Cam having chosen to keep being kind to him, even when it stopped being convenient. 

“Ye shouldn'ave stayed awake. Have sum sleep, dun worry fer a bit. We can talk when ye wake up,” Cam said gently. He couldn’t believe this was the same guy who he’d seen in that video just now. That was another reason why he’d like Bucky to sleep. He needed some time to make sense of the puzzle pieces he’d acquired.

“I thought you were in trouble,” Bucky protested weakly. He would never have forgiven himself if Cam had gotten hurt hiding him. 

“Thanks.” He tucked the card into his pocket. At the offer, Cam snorted a laugh and shook his head. “My rent might make ye think thes es a big place, but there’s nae room tae swing a cat an’ nae doors except th'bathroom an'I jest did business there.” Awkward jokes scared people off right? “Honest, ye got more chance hurtin’ yerself trippin’ o'er my junk ‘an findin’ him. I’ll let ye know ef I see anythin’.” He paused briefly, looked thoughtful. “Try my neighbour two doors over? She’s a snoop. Ef anyone’s seen anythin’, she did.”

There was no way the agent should have bought that. Bucky listened, forcing himself to focus. He braced himself to defend them both when Hydra agents inevitably pushed their way through. Only that wasn’t what happened at all. 

The agent listened, glancing past Cam into the apartment only very briefly. There was a pause, where it looked like he might push the issue anyway. In the end, he agreed, addressing one of his fellow agents. “There’s nothing here. Let’s move out.”

“Here-” Cam guided Bucky to lie down on the couch in a position he hoped was comfortable. Bucky’s limbs were heavy and difficult to manoeuvre, but he liked to think he did a relatively good job. He grabbed a pillow and a blanket as well, then wedged himself into the corner of the armchair with a cup of coffee, watching his friend, worrying quietly.

Bucky was too out of it to be much help, but he didn’t struggle or fight being shuffled around. He sagged against the pillow, pale and wrung out, but breathing steadily. For a while, he was entirely dead to the world, lulled into resting by his strange, confusing urge to trust Cam. 

It was only a matter of time before Hydra found him. He stirred at the sound of them down the hall, banging on one door after another. Too weak and weary to get up, Bucky tried to reach for the gun he had holstered along his hip.