Marvel One-Shots

Split (Stucky)

Steven Grant Rogers... Captain America... The same person, yes? Wrong. Steve Rogers is a completely different person than Captain America. The Avengers know Captain America. But who knows Steve Rogers? His mother. Bucky Barnes. That's it. Everyone else knows Captain America.

Steve Rogers is a sensitive, stubborn boy who is not afraid to voice his opinion and pick a fight. Captain America is, let's be real, cold to a certain extent, stubborn to a further extent, analytical, a leader, but not really his true self. Steve Rogers is a sweet, caring, kind person. Captain America is kind, definitely caring, but the sweetness of Steve isn't there.

That's why when Bucky Barnes found out his best friend, the love of his life, had been keeping this 'Captain America' persona up from after he got out of the ice up until Bucky came back, his heart broke. He no longer saw Steve. He saw Cap. Now, Cap is a great person. But Cap is not Steve.

One day, after a debrief meeting, Bucky was waiting by Steve's room in the compound. He'd been staying there a few weeks. He'd noticed how Steve's actions were more cold and analytical than his Stevie. When Steve trudged back to his room, he let his guard down. As he turned the corner, down the hallway which he thought was empty, his facade dropped. His expression was drained.
"Steve." Bucky started, speaking softly as to not startle the blonde. He walked up to the blonde, now frozen in place. He placed his hands on either side of Steve's face, rubbing his thumbs across Steve's cheeks.
"Come back to me, Stevie. I know you're in there. Come back... For me. I need my Stevie." Steve's expression softened from a hardened confused expression, to the expression of a little boy in Brooklyn hanging out with his best friend under the bleachers. He felt the sting of hot tears forming in his eyes. Steve wrapped his arms around Bucky's neck gently, hugging him.

"I'm right here, Buck... They can't- They don't know me like you do... It's been so so hard." He whispered, a tone of relief in his voice.

"I missed you so much, Stevie." Bucky whispered softly, rubbing the blonde's back gently. "I'm so glad to see you back in those baby blue eyes. You're too good for this world. They don't deserve you, Steve. But you don't deserve to be stuck in being Cap all the time." Steve nodded in understanding, listening to the words he'd needed to hear for so long.

"You can be yourself again, Steve. We can be ourselves. We can be happy again. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." The past few weeks had been busy for the both of them. This was one of the first true connections they'd had since before the ice, before Hydra. Bucky rubbed the blonde's back gently, humming softly as Steve Rogers surfaced. Steve's demeanor had changed. He no longer made himself appear big and strong. He let himself collapse into Bucky like he used to, appearing small again.

It was clear that the two needed each other more than anything in the world and Bucky would see to it that Steve would never have to be stuck in his 'Captain America' persona as long as he could help it.