I'll Cover You (Stucky Fanfic)

Chapter 5

With enough pain medication to sedate a small elephant, Steve and Bucky stepped into the apartment. Bucky set his book down on the kitchen counter and grabbed a banana from the counter. Steve had sat down on the couch when he heard the smashing of plates coming from the kitchen.
"Spider!" Bucky yelled as Steve shuffled into the kitchen. He was standing on a chair, pointing at the dropped banana with an enormous spider sitting on it.
"Buck it's just a spider! What do you want me to do, kill it?" Steve laughed, but before he knew it, he was against the wall, a knife pressing into his throat.
Steve's eyes opened wide and he gasped for air as he struggled to comprehend what was going on. Bucky stood, holding him to the wall, pressing on the knife with one hand, and holding Steve's chest right where the cracked rib was with the other. His teeth were bared in a show of aggression and he spat in Russian at Steve.
"Bucky. Bucky look. Stop!" Steve whimpered as the wild-eyed man pressed harder into his side.
He howled in pain as Bucky pressed harder and harder with both his hand and the knife. Steve felt a slight trickle of blood down the side of his neck and knew he had been cut. Bucky was breathing heavily, intently staring at Steve.
Steve screamed again as Bucky removed the knife and punched his chest. Again and again Bucky punched until Steve was reduced to a pile on the floor. Steve continued to yell, trying to figure out how to break Bucky from his trance.
In one last attempt to gain control of the Winter Soldier, Steve yelled "Mission Complete"
Bucky snapped to attention and stood still. Steve crawled to the other side of the room before standing. He stumbled to Bucky and touched his shoulder. He stood completely still. He grabbed his hand and shook his entire arm. Still nothing. He snapped twice in front of his eyes and he crumpled to the floor.
"Buck. Bucky. James?" Steve cried, sinking to the floor to check Bucky's pulse. It was rapid, but slowing. He then pried open his eyelids. His pupils were back to a normal size and his face was relaxed. Steve hoped this was the end of the episode.
He dragged the massive man to the couch and laid him down with a pillow and a blanket. Steve sat at the other end of the couch, trying to focus on the television, but instead, worrying about Bucky. He kept sneaking glances and reaching over to check his vitals.
At this point, his body was a normal temperature and he seemed to be sleeping comfortably. The same could not be said for Steve, however. He got up to grab his medicine and a drink.
When he made his way back to the comfort of the couch with much difficulty, he decided it was time to try to ease Bucky out of his sleep. He began with lightly touching his shoulder and whispering in his ear and escalated into strained yells and claps until he saw Bucky's eyes flutter and scrunch up. He looked hopefully at Bucky as he rolled over and stretched out. He shuddered and awoke.
Steve inhaled as deeply as he could with a broken rib, and watched Bucky for any signs of hostility. There was none. Bucky opened his eyes and blinked at the harsh light. He looked at Steve and groaned.
Steve looked at him uneasily and backed away.
"Steve no, did I hurt you? Please tell me I didn't." Bucky looked at the dried blood on Steve's neck and choked up.
He was sick of hurting people, sick of seeing the fear in people's eyes when he awoke from an episode. They looked at him like he was some sort of a rabid animal.
"Steve I need to know what I did to you." Bucky insisted as Steve nodded.
"Well, um, alright. You... you freaked out and had me pinned against a wall. With... with a knife. Against my throat. Then you um... you started punching my ribs? I yelled something like 'Mission Complete' and you just went stiff. And then you collapsed when I snapped my fingers at you." Steve said, trying to choose his words carefully so as not to upset Bucky.
"Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god." Bucky said, putting his face into a pillow.
"Bucky it wasn't you. I know it wasn't." Steve reassured him, rubbing his back.
"That's just it though. It was me. My body held you at knifepoint. I'm not safe around you. There's too many triggers for anyone to be safe near me." Bucky said, looking up at Steve from the pillow, eyes red and teary.
"Bucky. Listen to me right now. I've known you basically since I was born. You're the most gracious and kind man I've ever had the pleasure to know. This is not you. The Winter Soldier is another consciousness in your head. You're still just Bucky. Just my best friend." Steve said, pulling Bucky in for a hug which he wiggled out of.
"I need to... I need to get out for a minute." Bucky said, climbing out the window onto the fire escape.
Steve watched him as he sat, face in arms, on the red platform. The setting sun cast shadows across his messy hair and muscular form. He was beautiful from that angle, and Steve couldn't help but remember everything that had been taken by the Winter Soldier.

A/N

Hello! Did you miss me?
I got TONS of requests to write more so I figured tonight was as good of a night as any. So here I am. Writing this. For you guys. Hope you like it!

Also, anyone who knows where the title of this story comes from gets a shoutout next chapter. This title and where it's from will become important to the story later in the story (but don't worry, I'll explain all the important references in the story so it makes sense)

Until next time dudes!
Lauren