"So it's over?" Steve asked.

That’s all the message says.

Bucky always tries so hard to pretend that he's alright, especially when Steve's watching. But sometimes, even the strongest people end up showing the cracks in their armor.

(Steve and Bucky run away together, and Bucky relearns how to be a person. There is hurt, comfort, sex, love, friendship, and the reclaiming of the trigger words Hydra programmed him with. The Avengers reconcile, but nobody asks Steve to come back. Leave them to retirement in peace.)

Post Civil War, Bucky has been living with Steve for a while but still has triggers that throw him into a bad place.

As he hid, trying to figure out who he was, his memory of baking came back, bit by bit. He started relating his new experiences with his old ones – using a knife to cut open vanilla beans was like slitting arteries, kneading bread was like a softer version of punching, the shaking in his hands whenever a loud noise sounded close by was a movement he could use for sifting flour and sugar. Whenever Bucky couldn’t sleep at night, he baked.

In the aftermath of a battle, Bucky is bleeding out, broken, and alone.

In which there is a sponge bath, oatmeal with cinnamon, a new arm for Bucky, and a daring escape.