Winter's First Snow

Snow Blindness

Steve had a rough night, Bucky came back with good news and bad news. Good news was that his old boss said she would give him his job back. Bad news however was that the woman had him working late night to early morning. So Steve would rarely see Bucky unless he was asleep. And he would end up waking Steve up at midnight because he had to go into work. The nasty bitch of a boss told Bucky that if he proved his worth hed get his old schedule back. But who knew how long that could take... Steve hadn't slept well at all. He was sick, as usual. And this time they really couldnt afford medicine. They had to pay rent for the month. He sighed and rolled out of bed. It was seven, Bucky would be home soon. He'd probably eat something then go back to bed. As if on cue keys jingled and Bucky stepped into the house and greeted Steve with a sore smile and a peck on the cheek
before eating a peice of toast with jam and slamming a bottle of old coca cola that was in the refrigerator. He kissed Steve again and made his way into the bedroom where he stripped into his boxers and flopped into bed, curling up on Steve's side and burrying his face into Steve's pillow. "Stevie?" Steve walked into the room and leaned against the doorframe and smiled at his sleepy boyfriend. They hadn't exchanged many words the past two days after the stunt Bucky pulled in the kitchen. "Yeah Buck?" Bucky slowly
opened his eyes and looked up at Steve. Steve's voice was rough and his throat was raw from all the coughing. "I'm sorry Stevie. For the other day and for not being able to um..." Steve waited patiently as Bucky tried to find the words. "Support? You." Bucky looked broken. He looked like his heart had been split in two. Steve shook his head. "You support me just fine Buck. I really don't know if i'd be alive if you actually had died..." Bucky gave Steve another sad smile and pushed his face back into the pillow taking a deep breath. "Love you Stevie." Bucky mumbled into the pillow. "Love you too Bucky." Steve whispered as he exited the room and closed the door behind him.
Steve set out to find some form of work in the paper. Maybe babysitting? Steve was always good with kids. He'd just have to get over this sickness first. And talk to Bucky, who would probably be stubborn and tell him that he didn't need to work. But Steve was still going to try to hold his own whether Bucky liked it or not. He grabbed Bucky's keys from the counter where hed dropped them and he left a small note on the fridge that said hed gone to the market to pick up a few small things. He had some money in his pocket that he had hidden away from Bucky as well as himself. He pulled out about a dollar. That should be enough. He bought a paper at a newsstand on the corner before walking over to the market. He grabbed a basket and gently put a loaf of bread, four apples and made his way back to the front of the store. he set his basket on the
counter and asked for a bottle of aspirin. He'd taken the last one the previous night when his fever started to get really high. "That'll be sevetny cents Steve." Steve counted out the seventy cents and handed it to the cashier. "Thanks Archie." The man smiled and handed Steve his groceries. "Have a good day!" Steve nodded his goodbye and exited the store. As he was walking he heard a commotion down an alley way that he was passing by. A woman was clutching her purse to her chest and screaming at a man who had a hold of the other end of it.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Steve couldnt help himself. It was like instinct to help others. The theif let go of the bag and the woman took off down the street without a word.
The man turned to steve with somewhat of an evil look. Steve was about to put up his dukes and hold his own but he felt a hand on his arm that dragged him away from the scene. "Steve what were you thinking?! That guy probably
had a hundred pounds on you!" Steve shoved Bucky off of him.
"What was I supposed to fucking do Buck! Let that guy get away with stealing from an innocent dame?" Bucky shook his head and ruffled steves hair wrapping an arm around his neck and walking him back home. "How'd you know where I was anyway?" Bucky smiled down at steve. He was probably a head taller than him. "You leave a note on the fridge that says you're at the store and for some reason Stevie, my first thought is he's getting his ass kicked somewhere." Steve gave bucky a look of mock offense. "I had him on the ropes!" Bucky grunted, laughing a little and pushing steve a little with his shoulder.
"C'mon Steve i gotta go back to bed." Steve frowned a little and let bucky take the keys from him and let them both into the apartment. The stairs up were getting harder for Steve to climb. His stomach lurched a little when he sat down. His head hurt and he was thirsty. "Buck?" He squeaked out. "You think you could get me a glass of water real quick?" Bucky shot Steve a weird look but went into the kitchen with his motherly look and got steve a glass of iced water and started making a pot of coffee. "Why are you making coffee. Bucky no, you need to go to bed you have-" Bucky shut him up with a quick kiss to the lips and set the water on the table. "You, Steve, are more important to me than sleep is. Especially right now because youre sick. And I don't think this is a normal sickness is it Steve? You had a pretty bad time on those stairs a minute ago hon."
Steve looked shocked that Bucky had noticed. "What? You thought I wouldn't notice that youve been a little different lately.." Steve smiled a little and scoot over on the couch to make room for Bucky to sit down. He leaned against his shoulder and watched his eyes as they took in Steves frail form. "I'll be okay Buck. Promise." Bucky looked scared. He knew something was up. He knew that this wasnt gonna be easy. "I'm gonna hold you to that Rogers." Steve smiled and
kissed Bucky's cheek, making his cheeks flush a little bit. "Love you Bucky."