Who Am I? » [Stucky]

95. My Shield

Bucky draped Steve's limp and leaden arm around the back of his neck, hauling along his beaten body along. Steve's feet trawled along the floor with as much grace as a baby elephant, toppling and staggering. Every time he extended or bent his left leg, the joint would flare up and he'd collapse onto Bucky, seething through his teeth.

He squinted at the world around him, still foggy through his clouded eyes. Bucky's words fell deaf on his numbed ears; unheard over the whiny din occupying his head like tinnitus. The only clear thing was the pain running through him; he could feel his forehead pulsing and his leg aching with a blistering pain. His split and bloodied lip stung like a wasp had buried its sting in it and his black eye thrummed with a rotund sensation.

Bucky was on the brink of a panic attack. He was gasping skittishly, fast, wild and shallowly. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest, like it was going to burst through at any second. His gut was sloshing, churning and clenching; making him feel like he was going to be sick. His body trembled, shaking like a leaf in a tornado.

"I'm so sorry, Steve," Bucky was blurting repetitively, oozing apology and regret. "I shouldn't have left you... I shouldn't have left you alone... I should've been there sooner to wade in and stop them before this happened... I'm so sorry, they were looking for me... Everyone always gets harmed because of me..." None of those words sunk in, they were a haze of echoed white noise.

Steve's eyes zoned in on Bucky's flurrying lips, shaping the blur of words, spilling them breathlessly. He stared up at Bucky's familiar blue eyes and saw hysteric panic and melancholic apology.

"I love you..." Steve murmured, his eyes woozy and his actions miscalculated as he swung an arm around Bucky's front to hug him closer and support himself better.

Bucky's stopped. Those three words pierced through his bubble of frenzied anxiety and striking some composure and clarity into his mind and heart.

"I love you too, Stevie," Bucky told him with damp eyes, accumulating more tears.

Steve just smiled dumbly, almost certain of the response as he watched Bucky's lips.

"Hey, Buck..." Steve spluttered as they lumbered along together.

"Yeah, buddy?" Bucky responded, his voice in a state of heightened emotion, whiny and fluctuating in dynamics.

"I had him on the ropes..." Steve laughed, splotches of blood pinging off his lip and landing on the floor.

"Sure you did, Steve..." Bucky giggled nervously through his tears. "Sure you did, you big dum dum..." Bucky placed a sweet tender kiss on Steve's forehead, making the blond smile giddily.

Bucky managed to lollop the pair of them back to the flat. He dragged Steve into the lift and helped to support him against the rail in the rickety elevator.

"Almost home, pal. We'll get you cleaned up, huh? We'll get those wounds cleaned and everything will get all better, okay?" Bucky whispered in a soft voice, trying not to be too offensive on Steve's ears, little did he know that they were completely clogged up.

The elevator screeched to a halt on their floor and Bucky toed it out, but had a firm hand planted on his chest and was walked back until his back hit the wall.

"They're looking for you, they've ransacked Steve's flat and they're coming to find you. You need to leave before they see you here," Sharon breathed to him nearly inaudibly, her blue eyes gleaming with honesty and sincerity. She was clutching the handle of a gun on the holster around her waist, her finger sitting patiently on the trigger.

"No, no, that was just me, we had an argument-"

Sharon put a finger to his lips, silencing him and tapping her ear.