For Steve

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[It's been fourteen months, six weeks, and four days since the Soldier pulled Steve from the Potomac and ran from everything he had ever known. Since he had begun to realise which parts of the world he'd been fed were lies, but hadn't quite managed to pin down which were truths. He knows that Steve has been looking for him. Not just him, but his friends too, most of the Avengers have been roped into Steve's unceasing search.

They never find anything.

He's too good, he knows how to hide. He's seen them - Iron Man once, Falcon four times, Steve twice - but they've never seen him. He's a ghost, just rumours that dry up on the wind. He's not too sure if he wants to remain this way for the rest of his life, he knows he's not ready for anything else, and this feels almost comforting. Anonymous. But something in him has pulled him back to America. He hears on the news what's been happening with the Avengers, he sees that there's a new 'compound' that they're using as a base, though none of the news channels know where it is.

It doesn't matter, he finds it.

There's security systems, of course, but he bypasses them all. He slips close enough past Falcon that he can smell the aftershave he used, but he isn't noticed. He finds Steve's room, easy to tell it's his because of the shield inside the door and the way that the whole place is military precision. Not a habit easy to break even once the army is done with you. He isn't even sure why he's here, just that he's following the instincts of his mind at the moment.

He takes a seat on Steve's bed, cross legged, and he waits.]

Comments

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[Searching every day is getting to be exhausting. Natasha and Sam have both spoken with Steve, gently pointing out that maybe Bucky doesn't want to be found. And yeah, okay. Steve knows. Steve's known that from the beginning. With all the training he's had, that's been forced on him, everything Steve's read about what Bucky's been through in every file they've dug up, Steve knows Bucky won't be found until he wants to be.

But it's not just a search for Bucky. At least that's what Steve tells himself. It's an ongoing message: you can come out of the dark. If you want. I'm here for you.

It's also a search for Hydra cells and as much information as they can dig up about Hydra and their methods. The information Nat had dumped on the internet had seemed endless, but not everything was digital. There were paper files around the world still, and Hydra cells still working, and yeah maybe Steve was making it a personal vendetta to stomp out Hydra once and for all.

But through it all, he just wanted Bucky safe. And yeah, maybe with Steve wasn't the safest place for Bucky, but Steve honestly just wanted Bucky to know he had options. That there was at least one person in the world who could try to help him remember who he was.

Steve wasn't very good at addressing his own desperation to connect with the one person who was a link back to the last place he ever thought of as home.

After another long mission, busting open Hydra cells and digging for information, Steve's exhaustion is bone deep. He feels like maybe he's never not been tired, and he's feeling the doubts that he'll never find Bucky. He walks right into his room at the compound and drops his shield on its stand and shrugs off his jacket...

...only to freeze in the middle of his motion when he sees Bucky. On his bed. Like he's been waiting for hours. Like all Steve ever had to do was come back to his room and Bucky would be there.

Steve swallows and finishes taking off his jacket, hanging it on its hook.]

Hey, Buck.

[Is he hallucinating? Is that possible? Has his desperation gotten that bad?]

How'd you get in?