Stucky Prompts

Part 17

Next five!

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"Don't you dare leave me, not now."

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Bucky was used to feeling numb. Everything was quiet, dull; he could have been peaceful, if not for Steve.

He was crying over him -- well, maybe not crying, not yet -- tears about to fall, eyes red, trying to keep his lower lip from trembling. Bucky watched him as his body collapsed, useless, to the floor.

"Stay with me, Buck, stay with me," Steve demanded, struggling to keep the panic out of his voice. Bucky listened to his frantic breaths. "Eyes on me, okay?"

Bucky blinked slowly, his chest rising and falling with every shallow breath. He wasn't going to last very long, he thought vaguely to himself -- could be five minutes, could be twenty, but this was his last chance.

He grasped Steve's hand and sucked in a breath, about to speak, but that sent him into a coughing fit that had his body quaking and head pounding. Steve's pulse quickened.

"No, no, hey," he soothed, anxiously searching his face. "Easy, okay? You're gonna be -- " He swallowed and closed his eyes briefly.

Bucky could feel himself drifting, empty, almost completely out of it. He caught a glance of Steve's alarmed face as his grip on his hand tightened.

"Don't you dare leave me, not now," Steve begged, ignoring the tears dripping down his face. He talked to Bucky, kept him awake until help arrived.

It took many painful hours for help to find them.

"Okay, you're gonna be okay..." Steve repeated the same mantra he'd memorized. He hated the faraway look in Bucky's eyes, how little he was breathing. He was a rag doll, bleeding out on the cold ground, all the while trying to hold his desperate gaze.

It was all Steve could do not to freak out.

Bucky finally let his eyes close, exhausted and on the brink of the end. He looked so pale. Steve stepped back as the professionals came in, closing his eyes and covering his mouth, trying his hardest to keep calm. He could only hope Bucky would be okay.

He watched as he was brought into the ambulance, his eyes closed. And Steve waited.

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"Talk to me."

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He didn't know what had happened. One minute he was fine, the next he was yelling, flying off the handles, and after that, silence. Total cold shoulder.

Steve had no idea what he'd done wrong.

"I'm going out," Bucky muttered as he pulled on his jacket. Steve frowned and stood, taking half a step closer.

"Why?"

Bucky shot him a long look. "I'm going for a walk."

Steve huffed impatiently through his nose and studied him quietly for a moment, trying to decode what he was saying, find the reason why he was so off lately. Bucky only gave him a second or two as he slipped on his shoes and yanked the door open. Then Steve grabbed his shoulder and halted him in his tracks.

"Please tell me why?"

Bucky turned, pulling himself from his grasp as he stared him down. "I just need a walk, okay? I'm not going to be long."

"Bucky -- "

"Steve, seriously -- "

"Talk to me," Steve pleaded, taking a step closer. Bucky didn't shy away; he counted that as progress. "Please, I don't understand you these days."