If Bucky died, who would find Steve in alleys, dust him off and have his back in a fight? If Bucky died, who would remind Steve how to breathe?
I’m sobbing at this line at this fic
“It’s been almost four months. Sam says -” He swallowed, trying to wash the thickness out of his voice. “Sam says I should stop hoping you’ll remember at all. He says maybe it’s better if you don’t.
“But you remember being Hydra’s prisoner.” Steve gazed sadly into the camera. “I can hear words, sometimes, when you scream at night. I wish – I wish that if you were going to forget, you could forget that, too.” He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, eyelashes damp when he moved his hands away.
“But Sam’s right. You’re here, and I’m right here with you, whoever you want to be. You couldn’t become anyone I wouldn’t want in my life. You couldn’t, Buck, I know you too well for that.”
Steve inhaled, apparently unaware of the tears running unchecked down his cheeks. “So I’m letting it go. You’ll always be my friend, Buck. It doesn’t – it doesn’t matter that you don’t remember that you were everything else, too.”
“Wait,” Tony interrupted, “did he mean -”
“It’s not like it’s the first time you didn’t know I was in love with you. You didn’t know it back in the ‘30s, either, but that didn’t make it less true. I just -” Steve’s voice caught on a sob. He jammed his fist in his mouth and breathed, choking on the tears. “- wanted it to be forever, that’s all. We were gonna finish the war and move to DC and keep the shades down so the neighbors couldn’t see … and then you fell, and it was still forever, because I wasn’t going anywhere without you.
“But now you’re here.” Steve wiped futilely at his eyes, tears clinging to his hands. “And you’re not mine. And it’s not forever, after all. I wish -” He paused, gave his head a sharp shake. “But I’m letting that go. It’s not important, you remembering that. Just as long as you remember that I’ve loved you since I was six, even if the how of it changed. Even if it got so much better. Damn it. Damn it, JARVIS, delete this. He can’t see this, JARVIS. He can’t.”