I'll Protect You, I Promise

Ice Box

"Hey, Cap," Nat said as the doors of the Quinn Jet came down. "Nice to see you in one piece."

"Yeah, you too," Steve said as he walked off the jet. Bucky followed and nodded at her but said nothing.

"So, where are we going?"

"We're going to wait here until T'challa or Shuri comes to get us," Nat responded.

"Oh," Steve paused and looked over at Bucky. "Can I have a moment with him then, I just-"

Nat nodded, "Of course, whatever you need."

Steve gave her a small smile, which she returned with one of sympathy.  He turned to Bucky and grabbed his hand, dragging him behind the jet. Without warning, he pulled the brunet into a hug.

"I love you."He whispered.

"I love you too." Bucky returned, "Can I ask a favour of you?"

"Yeah, anything. What do you need?"

"I need you to be strong, at least until I go under. I know that if you are uncomfortable with this, which you are, I won't want to go under. I won't. So please, I know this is a lot, but be strong for me."

"I can do that." 

Little lies are okay. 

Little lies they could believe.

"I will be strong," Steve looks him in the eye. Bucky's face melts into an easy smile and all the tension evaporated from his shoulders.

"Thank you," he whispered. He glanced behind him at Natasha. "We should head back over."

The corner of Steve's mouth turned up as he leaned in to kiss Bucky. "Yeah, I guess we should."

The two of them walked back and took a place standing next to Nat. Each of them stood up a little straighter when the saw figures emerge from the building. T'challa strode over to him, the general Okoye, and T'challa's sister Shuri.

"Welcome, Captain" T'challa greeted. "It's good to see you in good health."

"You too, your majesty." Steve returned.

T'challa gestured at his sister and the general, "This is my sister, Shuri and the general Okoye."

"Let's not forget, I'm the one who's going to fix him, T'challa," Shuri added.

Bucky looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Steve subtly elbowed him as a reminder to be polite.

"Do you want me to fix you because I can, you just have to trust me. Follow me to my lab. I'll start with basic procedures and go from there." Shuri looked at Bucky, expecting him to follow her. She sighed, "Don't worry, you'll see them before you go under, right now we have to check your vitals so we have a baseline."

Bucky looked at her unsure of what to do. He felt a slight nudge on his back and when he turned he saw Steve move his head toward Shuri. He had to go, that was the whole point of all of this. Reluctantly her followed.

Bucky sat on the table facing Steve, Natasha hovering in the background. Bucky kept shifting and averted his gaze from the glass cylinder.

"Steve," He whispered, "I'm scared."

"It's okay. I'm here. I'll be here when you fall asleep and I'll be here when you wake up. I promise." 

Bucky tugged uncomfortably at the white fabric. "What if they can't fix me?"

"Have a little faith Buck, they can fix you." The blond reassured. Though he had the same suspicions, they were more like what-ifs. He knew that Shuri was capable of fixing him, it was just the matter of what if something went wrong.

"This has been fun," Bucky shook his head, shaky laughs falling from his lips.

Steve's eyes crinkled at the corners and his eyes danced with light, however, his lips couldn't move from the frown that was etched on them. "Yeah, it sure has. I think Nat wants to talk to you, I'll come back after."

Steve walked to the window, he studied the way the trees moved in the wind. It was much more serene than back in Brooklyn.

"Hey, there," Nat said, the ghost of a broken smile on her lips. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, you know for going into an icebox." He laughed.

"Think of it as training."

"Training is not something I want to remember," Bucky said. "I'd like to keep that in the past."

"Yeah, me too. I can't ever forget, but you." Nat sighed. "You get help and one day you can be normal."

"You can still visit for Christmas, whether or not you're still saving the world."

"More like destroying it. But that would be nice. I'll come to see you when you wake up."

"Okay, Nat." Bucky paused, "One question though when I go asleep are you going to take care of the other Black Widow?"

"Yelena Belova, yeah, I've been meaning to give her a little chat," Natasha said menacingly. "I've heard she'd been causing a lot of chaos."

"You should get on that, маленький паук," Bucky mumbled.

(I can't speak Russian, I used a translator. If this is wrong I'm sorry. Translates to little spider, if the translator is right) 

Natasha leaned down and placed her lips on Bucky's, "See you around."

"Yeah, see you around." Bucky, who was scarlet red, watched as Natasha walked out of the room. 

"Oh, geez, I guess this means I'm going to have to top that kiss, aren't I?" Steve joked.

The brunet rolled his eyes and he grabbed the fabric of Steve's to pull him down. He pressed his lips against the other males. "When I wake up, I'm gonna show you a good time, ya?"

"When this is over, I'm going to marry you and we're gonna get a big house with a yard and a fence and we can adopt kids and get a dog and have big Christmas parties." Steve countered, tears falling from his eyes.

"You want to marry me?" 

"Yes, dummy."

"Mr Barnes?" Shuri asked quietly when she stepped into the room. "Whenever you're ready."

Bucky kissed Steve one more time, pushed himself off of the table and he walked over to the glass case. He willed himself not to turn around, he knew doing so would result in him not entering the glass case.

A coffin more like. Bucky thought. Like in Snow White. A person becomes cursed and sleeps in a glass coffin.

He took a deep breath and stepped in. Tears fell as he looked over at his lover. This was it. The last time in a long time that he'd get to see that face.

I love you. He said, but the case had shut and Steve only saw the tears and not those last words of comfort. 

There will be two more chapters, just to let you know.