Bodyswap/reunion
Steve is sure he went to sleep in a Best Western somewhere outside of Pigeon Forge. He went to sleep on his bed, with Sam in the next bed over. He wore a t-shirt and boxers, and he'd been curled up on his side.
This is the first reason it startles him to wake sitting upright, wedged between two tree roots in a downpour, encased in black leather.
When he cries out, not in his own tones, and when his metal arm scrabbles for purchase, that's when the ground swoops beneath him and he has to still himself through sheer force of will. Lank, dripping hair frames his vision; there's stubble beneath his palm when he rubs his face. That's the Winter Soldier's uniform binding him shoulders to feet; that's Bucky's voice when he finally swears.
What surprises him, after the shock -- doesn't wear off, but becomes manageable, is that Bucky's body is astonishingly like his own. His hearing, his eyesight, his strength, it feels familiar. Now Steve is certain Bucky held back in hand-to-hand.
He shifts again, looks around for possessions or some indication of where he is. No guns or duffle in sight, but Steve does catch sight of something that stops up breath: the Best Western, his room perfectly visible through a gap in the trees.
Oh god.
Bucky's body runs as fast as Steve pushes it, with more in reserve. He barely notices the metal arm; it clenches and pumps as naturally as the flesh one. Steve barrels and skids down the muddy hills, pounds across the parking lot and nearly breaks through the room door before checking himself.
"Sam?" he calls, pressed to one side of it.
Bullets smash through the wood and the window. Inside, Sam yells.
The metal arm easily splinters the rest of the door. Steve halts at the sight of himself, eyes wide and feral, with Sam in a headlock and the gun pointing at his temple.
"Bucky," he says, and holds up both hands. "Bucky, don't."
"Stay back," Bucky snarls, like Steve never had or could.
Sam's eyes dart between the two of them.
Steve swallows. "How long have you been that close, Buck?"
Bucky frowns harder. The gun doesn't waver. Steve -- has to laugh. "Is this what it took to get you to come back?"