Save Me || Bucky Barnes

25

It was only a week later that Steve and Bucky were thrown back into the mix. They both felt as though they had zero time to adjust to the new era. Steve was outraged with the man who had promised them they would have time to adjust. He thought that they would have several months to adjust before they were pulled back in, not seven days. 

Bucky, however, didn't feel anything in regards to their situation. In all honesty, he didn't really feel anything. He just went through the day mimicking what Steve did. He put on a facade to show Steve that he was fine, that he wasn't thinking about anything he should worry about. 

But, Bucky needed help. 

He didn't know how to live without Charlotte. He had grown used to always having her by his side, to having her always correct him on something. Now, he lived with the constant guilt, the endless 'what if's. What if we had gone back to look for her? What if she survived the fall? What if she tried looking for us? What if she died alone? Bucky couldn't get these thoughts out of his head and it was slowly tearing him apart from the inside out.

Steve first started to notice when Bucky stopped eating as much as he normally did. Bucky would claim that twenty-first century food didn't sit right in his stomach and that it would take him a while to get acclimated to the era's diet. But when it progressed to Bucky hardly leaving the apartment in order to become acclimated, Steve started worrying.

But who did he have to talk to about this? Charlotte wasn't here anymore and everyone else, all the Howling Commandos and Peggy, had passed on. Bucky was the only person he knew and trusted. Steve couldn't talk about how much he secretly worried about Bucky to Bucky. That would defeat the purpose of a secret.

Things turned completely upside down, however, a week after they had arrived in the twenty-first century. A knock on the door at six thirty in the morning startled Bucky awake. He had taken to sleeping on the couch in the living room, where the only radio in the apartment was. It soothed him to listen to forties music while he tried to fall asleep.

Steve, however, was already awake. He had been reading the newspaper in the chair adjacent to the couch Bucky was asleep on. Bucky groaned and rolled off the couch to stop Steve from going to the door and opening it. He didn't want to be disturbed this early in the morning. Steve just rolled his eyes and lightly, although it didn't seem this way to Bucky, walked across Bucky's back to get to the door.

"No fair, Stevie." he grumbled, pushing himself into a sitting position. Steve smiled to himself and shook his head. Mornings were the best time for Bucky. That was when he was the most like himself. Steve thought it was because when he slept, he forgot that Charlotte had died, so he woke up like his regular self.

Steve opened the door to reveal a middle aged man with mousy brown hair standing behind it. His black tuxedo was crisp and precise, not a single wrinkle visible on the expensive looking material. Steve's eyes scanned over the man before he spoke.

"Is there something I can help you with, at six thirty in the morning?" Steve glanced at his watch to make sure the time was right.

"Actually, Captain Rogers, there is." the man replied, his lips stretched into a practiced smile. Steve's eyes widened. How does this man know my name? 

"Hey, Buck, c'mere a second, will ya?" Steve called back into the apartment without taking his eyes off the mysterious man who happened to know his name. A loud, annoyed groan sounded from farther into the apartment. It took a few minutes before a disheveled Bucky finally stood slightly behind Steve.

"Who's this?" he yawned.

"I'm not sure. That's why I called you over, fat-head." Steve sighed. He knew it was early for Bucky, he had just woken up, but Steve would have thought he would have more common sense about him. The man outside the door watched the two bicker for a few moments before he cut in.

"Excuse me, but my being here is time sensitive so if I could please come in and explain why I'm here, that would be wonderful." 

Another practiced smile. Steve and Bucky shared a cautious glance before they stepped out of the doorway so the man could walk inside. 

Without looking around, the man headed straight for the kitchen, as if he knew exactly where it was to begin with. 

"If you two would please take a seat, we can get started." 

Steve and Bucky sat down opposite the man at their small kitchen table. They watched as he spread out several papers across the wood.

"My name is Phil Coulson. I work for SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. I believe you have already met my boss, and the Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury," after receiving confused glances from both men sitting across from him, he explained more, "He was the guy with the eye patch and all black clothing."

A simultaneous "Oh" sounds throughout the room.

"As I was saying, SHIELD has hand picked the two of you to be apart of an exclusive, oh how would you describe this? It's basically a club for the genetically or physically enhanced. We call it the Avengers Initiative. The world is being threatened by an otherworldly force that our military troops have no chance against. Our only hope is people like you. So, what do you say? Do you want to be Avengers?"

-

I know this is a relatively short chapter, but I'm going to kind of gloss over the details of what happened in the Avengers movie because it's not really important to this story/plot line :)