#sgtbarnacle

Steve takes a seat across from Bucky. It was a few days before he had to make the decision of whether or not he wanted to go under again. Steve, selfishly, doesn't want him to and he knows that Bucky knows that. Even after near a century apart, they can still read one another so well.

He knows this is Bucky's choice and Steve doesn't want to take that away from him when he's spent a lifetime now of having no choice in the matter on anything. He doesn't want to guilt him by telling him they had just fought a war for him to be free just for him to shut himself down again. That's not fair to Bucky. If he feels safer in cryo, then Steve shouldn't stop him.

Steve thinks that they could work on it out here. Stark had once mentioned psychologists, maybe the things in his head could be pulled out with psychiatric help rather than going in and forcibly removing them, which also worries Steve that they might remove a bit of Bucky, the Bucky he knew, in the process. He wants to present his case, he wants to keep Bucky in the present, doesn't want to have to lose him again.

{x}

Well, that answer was…unfortunate. Shit, what had he walked into?

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t just…” Bucky gestured vaguely, rolling his hand in the air for a second, and then just letting it drop. He had walked into this, hadn’t he?

“Hi,” he tried, eyes falling for a moment as a sigh huffed from his flared nostrils, mouth twisting around the choice of words. “Bucky.” Yeah, alright. That’d do.

Bucky. Bucky fucking Barnes was here talking to her. He’d even talked to her first. She was tempted to pinch herself just to be sure that this was real, but that would be very conspicuous and likely very weird. 

Besides, if this were a dream, he’d probably be in uniform. And possessing two arms.

She needed to show him that she was alright. That she wasn’t some weirdo. Someone who was cool with the Avengers and wasn’t going to freak out about what had been on the news about him. Some of it might be true, but she wasn’t sure about the worst of it. If it had, he wouldn’t be here now, would he?

“Do you think we made the right decision? Do you really think this was the best course of action with the Accords?” An unspoken question of was this all worth it hung in the air for a moment before Clint sighed.

“Whatever, I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. What’s done is done.”

“You would not know! How would you know!” This was exactly the kind of conversation he wanted to be having with this man. A wild smile hidden in the stubble across his face, eyes alight and hand buried in a pocket as he strode at Steve’s side. “Not that you couldn’t defend yourself, but you shouldn’t have to! I swear, if I find out this is some new form of vigilantism - that you’re looking for serial killers…”

[text] You are a majestic unicorn. Live the dream.