When You Were Never Mine

Whose Side Are You On?

Steve watched out the windows of the dirty warehouse that Sam had found, listening to jets and helicopters as they flew overhead in search of them, but even more so in search of Bucky. Steve was committed to not let that happen, knowing in his core that he could turn the man back to the one he used to know, even when the world had told him time and again to let that idea go. Even now, as his former best friend sat with his metal arm in a vice grip to keep him immobile until he woke, Steve refused to be afraid of the man, no matter which version of him would wake.

"Hey, Cap!"

Steve tripped over his feet as he spun towards Sam's voice, practically barreling towards it to have his answer. Bucky's head was swimming, Steve could see that just in his motions as he woke, and the faraway look in his eyes at their first meeting. Barely a second had passed and Steve knew who he was talking to.

"Is (Y/N) okay? Did I hurt her? Where is she? Let me out of this thing so I can find her-"

"Buck, calm down, she's alright," Steve answered as calmly as he could, "she's with Tony. You didn't do anything that hurt her."

"But...but I almost did...didn't I?" he asked cautiously. Even now, he knew when he had caught Steve Rogers in a lie; even a little one to spare his feelings. "What did I do?"

"Enough."

"I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words. She told me...she told me to come back with her years ago," he said, so quietly that it was mostly to himself. "If I would've listened to (Y/N) then, none of this would've happened. All those people-"

"Yeah, you should've listened," Sam agreed readily, "but now that Stark's put a giant rock on her finger, I'm gonna bet that she'll be signing the Accords in a hot minute and your shot at a stable home life is long gone. He's not gonna let you within a hundred miles of that girl after what went down today. You were the blink of an eye away from killing her, and I think that taking this into personal territory like that might make him hold a bit of a grudge."

~~~

On the way to Germany, where Steve, Bucky, and Sam were reported to be, you put on your gear to prepare, but as it settled around you, there was something that was just...off. The flexibility of the suit's joints wasn't as smooth as the last time you had worn it, and the weight seemed to have lost its balance. "Stark, what did you do to my suit?"

"Just a few modifications," he shrugged, "for safety. A little extra bullet-proof armor here and there. Maybe a little more here than there, but you get my drift."

"You know, it's bad enough that you insist that I wear this thing, but if you're going to make it uncomfortable for me to do so, then I'm going back to my old uniform. I bet you don't modify Rhodey's suit at all, right?"

Tony opened his helmet and took a stand in front of you, waiting for you to open your own to talk to him. He had made you a suit that matched his, though in a more fitted degree than his own, with far less bulkiness to keep from stifling your movements. But now that he had added a fortress of protection around it, you felt like you had to learn how to use it all over again. "(Y/N), I almost saw you get your head blown off by that nutcase, and now we're about to go up against Steve. He could very well have Barnes on his side and I won't stand by and let you be a target. If I can't stop that, at least I can know that I've protected you as much as I can this way."

"I can handle myself." You stood up in the back of the jet, the angles of your suit still not feeling like they usually did, and it all sat wrong with you when you tried to move. "Nope, this isn't going to work. I can't be effective if I feel like my underwear are up my ass the whole time. I'm changing into my old gear."