The Real Endgame (Bucky/Steve Rogers)
“ON YOUR LEFT BUCK!” Steve Rodgers hollered, as he swung his newly acquired hammer. Bucky gracefully dodged to the side as Mjolnir destroyed two assailants on his left.
The battle raged on around the two old friends as Thanos’s forces closed in on them, fighting going on in all directions as far as they could see. In the distance Steve could make out Dr. Strange doing some weird water bending and portal summoning while Captain Marvel torpedoed herself into an evil-looking Zeppelin. The Avengers were saving the world as usual.
Steve paused for a moment, after pounding the skulls of two alien attackers into the ground with his shield. He caught Bucky’s eye as caught his breath, feeling a flush rise on as he gazed into Bucky’s sea-glass coloured orbs. He could get lost in those eyes for hours he felt, a stained-glass window to the most beautiful, loyal, and gentle soul. As he parted his lips in his moment of reverie, he saw flash out of the corner of his eye before a boom threw him to the ground.
He felt the wind knocked out of him, blood pounding in his ears, as he lay in deliciously excruciating pain. As he opened his eyes again, he noticed he had been impaled in the stomach by an abandoned spear strewn on the ground. All of a sudden he seemed to notice every detail of his dying body, from the blood pouring out of his wound to his hand weakly clenched around his useless shield, to his eyes watering and his chest aching knowing he would die alone and without his love.
“STEVE!” Bucky yelled, appearing in Steve’s periphery, crawling over as he too had been struck by the blast. Steve’s eyes widened as he saw Bucky’s windswept hair and rugged physique loom over him. “NO!” Bucky screamed in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.
“Bucky...” Steve mumbled weakly as he reached up to touch Bucky’s rough chin. “Good to see you…”
“No, no, no” Bucky sobbed as he threw himself onto Steve, clutching his dear friend it seemed for dear life.
“Shhh…” Steve whispered, putting a finger to Bucky’s soft lips. “It’s okay…”
Bucky held his dear friend, seeing him through new eyes. Achingly searching Steve’s gaze, Bucky silently requested one last action.
As he seemed to find what he was looking for, he closed his eyes, lowering his lips to his, his heart hammering in his chest as he finally seemed to find what he had been looking for all these years, even if for a few preciously painful moments.
Steve ran his fingers through Bucky’s hair and in his last moments Steve mumbled against Bucky’s lips:
“We are inevitable.”