Time After Time || Back To You Series
Prompt: “Is it so wrong for me to want to save you?” || requested by @suitofvibraniumarmor
A/N: Saw K’s prompt, knew instantly who it was for. The first drabble for my Back To You series. Enjoy! 💜
Bucky stared straight ahead, unable to see anything beyond the frustration coursing through his veins. The atmosphere between the exhausted trio was tense; each of them bearing the weight of defeat in their own way. A new Captain America brought his own set of challenges with him. On top of that, they’d had their asses handed to them by a group of rebel teens who were all somehow super soldiers―a twist none of them had been prepared for. Bucky and Maia the least of all.
Maia. Bucky’s gaze traveled upwards to where the woman sat across from him, staring intensely back. She sat with her right hand pressed firmly against her side, slowing the flow of blood from the gash under her ribs. Her face remained blank, devoid of emotion. She kept her eyes trained on the soldier’s face―if looks could burn holes through flesh and bone. . .
Bucky grabbed the med kit hidden under the bench seat to his right, and approached Maia with purpose.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” Sam said, lazily waving a hand toward the back of the plane. “Best to let her cool off first or you’ll be the one needing stitches.”
The Winter Soldier ignored the warning, rolled his eyes at the chuckle that followed, and continued on his way. Neither Bucky or Maia gave the other the benefit of breaking eye contact first; Bucky wanted Maia to know he wasn’t going to just let her bleed out on a plane halfway around the world from home, and Maia wanted Bucky to know she wouldn’t let him come within a foot of her without a fight if that’s what he wanted.
“Your funeral,” Sam mused.
Bucky nodded to the wound at her side. “O să mă lași să curăț asta acum?” When she made no objections, Bucky squatted in front of her with the med kit on the floor next to him.
“Vrei să-mi spui la ce te gândești sau ar trebui să încep să ghicesc?”
Maia didn’t answer, Bucky scoffed.
He pulled a pair of scissors from the kit and reached for her t-shirt. “Lean back.”
Maia uncrossed her legs, allowing Bucky to help pull her forward until she was leaning back against the wall behind her, slouching down for Bucky to see. She winced, barely, as the pressure on her side eased. Blood trickled from the bullet wound, she could feel the projectile shift with the movement of her muscles. She knew Bucky was thinking the same thing: the world’s new so-called Captain America had shot her.
“Ai ieșit în cale și m-a împușcat.” Maia ground out through a tightly clenched jaw. She balled her hands into fists, the urge to punch the man in front of her was strong.
“I saved your life, Maia. I won’t apologize for that.”
“You saved my life? Captain Trashole shot me, Bucky. What the hell were you thinking?”
“You should be happy that’s all he did.” Bucky settled himself between Maia’s legs, his hands worked quickly over her side; he held the wound open with a pair of forceps, and found the bullet with the tips of his Vibranium fingers. Without warning, Bucky pulled the bullet free of Maia’s side. Crimson pooled and flowed freely from the now vacant hole, covering Bucky’s hands and staining the top of Maia’s pants. “Ready?”
A deep breath in was all that could be heard in the deafening silence that passed through the plane. Maia braced herself on the bench below her, squeezed Bucky’s torso between her legs, and closed her eyes. A quick nod was all she gave him in response to his question. A beat passed, a single ticking second of the clock, then she felt it.
Bucky pressed the needle to the edge of the bullet hole after sterilizing both with alcohol, and the needle with the lighter they kept in the kit for occasions like this. It’d been a long time since they’d had to patch each other up on the go, he almost felt. . . sorry.
“He wasn’t going to stop, you could’ve died. What would you have me do, hm?” He asked, carefully pulling the surgical thread through the wound until it was sealed. He then placed a bandage over the stitches, and sat back on his heels.
“So what? People die every day, Bucky.” The fire in Maia’s eyes reminded him of the moment they’d met, so long ago now, but it felt like just the other day.
“Is it so wrong for me to want to save you?” He shot back, unable to contain the bitterness at the thought of losing her.
“Why?! We are soldiers with extraordinary abilities, we’ve withstood the passage of time, but we are not invincible. We still break, we still die.”
“Because I already lost you, remember! Six years ago, I watched you die right in front of me and I was powerless to change it. To-to stop it from happening in the first place.”
Her words punched through Bucky’s gut like a freight train. He’d been so worried about trying to save her earlier that day, he didn’t stop to think that maybe she were trying to save him, too. Bucky pushed up onto his knees, took Maia’s face gently between his hands and rested his forehead against hers.
“I can’t lose you a second time, Buck. . .”
“Nu voi mai face acea greșeală.”
“Mă salvezi în fiecare zi fiind aici. Prin trăire.”
Sam sat up on the bench where he’d laid down to try and get some rest. A feat easier said than done among the bickering super soldiers. He chuckled, throwing the duo a smile. “Heh, “Captain Trashole.” That’s a good one, Maia. I’m gonna write that one down.”
vaporwave
stormborns
romaincrisis
turnnoffyourmind
