I'll Protect You, I Promise

Strawberries

The line only seemed to move inch by inch. Each person took their time, putting a lot of thought into their orders. Soon after what must have been at least 30 minutes Steve and Bucky made it to the counter.

The girl with blond hair greeted them with a bored voice, "Hello, what would you like today?"

Steve, who was still deciding, nudged Bucky to order first. Bucky sighed and relayed his order to the worker. "Um, yeah. Small waffle cone, with strawberry ice cream."

"Okay," She said dragging out the last syllable. She turned to the other male, "And what about you?"                                                      

"Just a small vanilla ice cream. Sugar cone." He said.

"I'll make those and you two go up to pay." She finished, dismissing them from her presence.

"10.95 please." The boy said. "And do you want a receipt?"

"No thanks," Steve said, reaching for his wallet. When he handed the money over the boy finally looked up from the register. He paused, sucking in his breath.

"Holy shit." He mumbled. Steve grimaced realizing that the boy recognized him and his friend. "Oh, no, um, thanks. And I won't, I won't say anything. You guys are cool."

Steve's face relaxed and he gave the boy a small smile. The moment, though quickly passed when the girl handed over the ice creams.

"Thank you," Bucky said as he took his. Steve reached for him but as he did so the boy said, 

"Thank you, so much. For everything."

"No problem." 

Then they both headed out the doors and back to their apartment.

As they made their way back up through the clouds of people, they attempted to eat the ice cream quickly, however, due to the heat and the pace which they were moving at, that task was extremely difficult. 

Steve's ice cream started to melt as soon as stepped outside. The ice cream would drip and Steve tried to eat it before, but soon his hands were covered in the sticky remnants of what had been ice cream. Bucky, on the other hand, had mastered the ways of eating ice cream, simply by stuffing it in his mouth. Within five minutes Bucky's ice cream had disappeared and Steve was suffering from his.

Bucky looked over at Steve with a curious expression. How could this man do anything without a care? He could be spotted and all of the hard work for would have been for nothing. Still, the man seemed easy and free, like part of him was back. It reminded him of Brooklyn so many years ago. He liked that Brooklyn, their Brooklyn. They were safe, mostly. But there weren't any spaceships or superhuman wars. It was the two of them, even if Steve insisted on getting into trouble.

Steve caught a glance of Bucky's strange smile from the corner of his eye. "What?" He questioned, "Do I have something on my face?"

Bucky shook his head, "No, I was just," He paused. Could he really tell Steve that he had been thinking that he wished things had been the same as they were before? Could he? "I was just thinking how cute you look."

Steve's cheeks became dusted with colour. "Thanks, Buck."

"Of course, Stevie," Bucky replied, trying to make Steve squirm. 

Buck. God how he loved that name. The one Steve called him, when he was trying to say something important or when Seve was being soft. It made him feel like he was home again. Of course, he was home, back in Brooklyn, but the home Bucky longed for was decades past. He had missed out on a normal life. Everyone had the moment they met each other. 

Peggy. She lost the love of her life and no matter how incredible and strong she was, she still loved Steve and Steve loved her. She moved on though, but she still was changed. Steve. He took the serum and it saved his life. He was just thrown into a life of saving everyone, all the time. He never thought about himself and even if he already did that, now there was no one who could stop him when he decides that his life means less than anyone else's. Sam. He became a fugitive, all for what? Bucky? Never. He had followed Steve because he believed in the man, even if it could cost him his life. 

And Bucky? He would follow Steve to the ends of the earth if he could and not just Captain America, no. Bucky had decided to follow the man the day he met him. How could he not? The man had a heart of gold and eyes brighter than the ocean itself.

"I love," Bucky started, but after seeing Steve's face, covered in the vanilla ice cream he was trying to eat. "Oh my God Steve."

Steve looked over at Bucky with a confused look. "Something wrong?"

"Yes," Bucky said through giggles. "You trying to save that ice cream for later or something?"

"Aw, damn," Steve said, but after looking around the familiar street he announced, "We're here anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"Language," Bucky whispered, but just barely. His head started pounding at that moment, like he had a brain freeze, just so much worse.

It started as if it were a brain freeze, then it spread to his temples and to the back of his head. It pounded and pounded. And when he thought it couldn't get any worse, a vision appeared. It was a dark room. He was strapped to a chair and there was a man standing above him, in a neatly pressed Hydra uniform, he was holding a red book in his hand and a creepy smile plastered on his face.

"Bucky?" Steve's voice came through, making the vision disappear. Steve was standing pressed against him, and his arms were wrapped around Bucky's torso, steadying him. "Are you okay?"

The concern in his voice was genuine, but something about the way Steve held his felt new, distant. It was more protective and possessive. As if he was ready to fight the whole world for him, again.

Bucky shook the feeling off. "I'm okay,  it's just a little headache. Now let's go inside and fix your little mess." Bucky gestured to all the ice cream that was on Steve's hands and face.

"Okay, Buck," Steve said, as he reached for Bucky's hand and lead him to the door of the apartment building.