Chapter Text
Having a rare condition that made you gradually go blind was scary. All your childhood doctors had chalked it up to bad eyesight and gave you huge glasses with thick lenses in order to get around. As soon as you were out of your parents house, you went to a doctor of your own and she had the decency to actually help you.
Having a rare condition that made you gradually go blind came as a surprise. The doctor had told you everything they could about the condition you had. Including the fact that there was nothing they could do to help you.
Before you had even left the doctor’s office, you had made up your mind about what to do with the rest of your time with your sight. It was already pretty bad. You weren’t able to see out of your peripheral on either side, and you often bumped into things, and bruised your legs. Anyway, you had decided to travel until you couldn’t see anymore.
After years of saving up and planning, you had finally earned enough money to go on a trip to see the sights all around the world. Well, at least Tokyo, Cairo, London, and back to New York City, but that’s all you could ever ask for.
Over the years, your sight had gotten so bad you fast-tracked learning braille, and got a seeing eye dog named Penny. You patted Penny’s back as she laid next to you on the couch. She’d been with you the last two years and had become one of your closest friends.
“This is it, Pen, we’re leaving for Japan tomorrow. Aren’t you excited?”
She barked back and you smiled, rubbing her soft fur.
“Good girl. Come on, let’s go to bed.” You instructed and Penny jumped from the couch and made her way to your room. You followed close behind. She went into your closet and took out your night clothes, tapping your leg to tell you that she had them. You bent down and took them from her, and started getting ready for bed.
You vision is blurring--or what is left of it. You had to cut your trip two weeks short, knowing that once it started to get blurry it was only a matter of time before that spot of sight was gone.
You sighed again, turned out the light, and crawled into bed, Penny resting next to you.
“Night, Pen.”
---
You dragged your suitcase out of the door and placed it beside you. You called penny out and checked everything before you took out your keys to lock your door. You bent down and focused on trying to see the lock which was getting harder and harder by the day.
“Heading somewhere, Y/n?”
You jumped and put a hand to your heart, “Steve, you scared me.”
“Sorry, thought you heard me.” Your neighbor, Steve Rogers, apologized. The two of you lived next to each other and talked from time to time. He often helped you with groceries. You let him. There was no arguing with Captain America, and in return, you dominated him in Uno every Friday night he had off.
“Hey, Penny.” Steve greeted your dog and bent down to scratch behind her ear.
Penny, ever the loyal dog, threw out all of that loyalty when it came to Steve. You let him pet her since she wasn’t helping you at the moment.
“It’s okay.” You gestured to the lock and shook your keys. “I was too focused on the task at hand.”
“I’ll help you with that.” He said snatching the keys from you, and stepping into your blind spot to lock your door.
“Steve you don’t have to, I got it. I’m not blind yet.” You joked and turned to face him, only to catch sight of someone else in the hallway, that you had failed to see before or hear for that matter. “Oh! Hi. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
Now that you saw him, you couldn’t stop looking at him. He had medium length brown hair, broad shoulders, and a chiseled face. You didn’t need your full to tell he was a handsome man. You took notice that he wore a hat and a glove on one hand.
“Oh, yeah.” Steve said after locking your door. He turned back to you and the other man in the hallway. “This is my friend Bucky. Bucky, Y/n.”
Steve tapped your arm and you reached right under where your arm was to take back your keys.
You smiled, and reached your other hand out, “Nice to meet ‘ya.”
He shook your hand gingerly with his gloved one, not saying anything, but instead nodding silently. You thought his hand felt a little weird, but didn’t think anything of it.
Silence fell over the three of you. Your watch beeped, reminding you of the time. You had to leave now to make it to the airport in time.
“Well, I have to go.” Your turned and grabbed the handle on your suitcase, the two men stepping to the side to let your past, you couldn’t see either of them when they did. “I’ll be back in a week or so, Steve. Hope to see you soon, Bucky.” You turned your head a bit to see him look at you as you passed.
“Come on, Penny.” You patted your thigh and whistled. You looked back to see her sniffing who you now knew as Bucky before following you into the elevator. You waved by as the doors closed.
---
Tokyo had been… bright to say the least. You had trouble seeing in the dark but had none at all with seeing the neon signs all around the city. Your next stop was Cairo to see the pyramids. They glistened, seeming to reflect the sun. Penny didn’t seem to like the camels in town, and they didn’t seem to like her either. You made your way to London and saw all of the touristy attractions. You stood in line for hours to get a turn on the London Eye. Penny stayed close to you once your pod on the wheel started to get higher and higher. It felt as if as soon as you landed in all of these cities, you were on a plane to the next.
By the time you got on the plane to make your way back to New York, your vision started to get darker. You knew that it’s end was near, but now was no time to be sad about it.
---
You stood right in the middle of of Times Square, your plane had gotten in the night before and today you’d gone out again to experience your city for what might be the last time. People weaved around you, taking the hints that Penny and your walking cane provided. You’d been standing there for… you don’t know how long, and you felt that it was time to go. You lifted your arm and tapped your watch. It told you that it was 7:24--almost nighttime.
That was your queue. Even without the blurry ness and darker vision, you could never see well in the dark, and your cane and service dog, people often thought you were the perfect target for a robbery.
“Let’s go home, Penny.” You told her, whistling to get her attention. She stood and started to guide you in the direction of home.
On the way to your apartment, the sun got lower and lower until you found yourself in the dark, blocks away from the safety of your apartment. The sound of music and talking people filled your ears as you came upon the strip of bars standing between you and your apartment. You folded your cane and held it more like a makeshift weapon in case you happened upon some drunk people who wouldn’t leave you be. You wrapped your hand again around Penny’s leash, tightening it to silently tell her to stay close to you.
After a few scares that turned out to be harmless, you made it past the bar and you were only a block away from your building when Penny stopped and started to bark at nothing that you could see.
“Penny, what-” You tried to pull her along, when strong arms grabbed you and picked you up, pulling you somewhere. You screamed your head off, letting go of Penny’s leash, and your purse to beat the man holding you full force with your cane.
You reached behind you and hit as hard as you could, not trying to miss. You got a good shot to the head in and he threw you to the ground. You scrambled to get up and stopped when you heard a gun cocking. You dropped your cane and put your hands up. Listening intently to try to figure out how far away he was from you.
All you could hear was Penny still barking her head off.
“Shut your dog up, lady!” The burglar screamed at you.
You hesitated, if you shut her up, no one would know that you were in this--presumably--alley, “...Penny…”
“Shut it up!” He screamed louder and you yelped.
“Penny, hush!” You commanded. She didn’t stop.
Good girl, you thought.
He stepped closer, something crunching under his foot, “I said-”
“I can't! She wont stop until on safe, or holding her leash.” You cut him off.
“Then grab her leash!”
“I-”
“If I hear you say ‘I can’t’ one more time,” It was his turn to cut you off “I’m going to put a bullet through you and your dog.”
“I’m sorry, but I don't know where it is!” You pleaded with him.
“You don’t-” You could hear the frustration in his voice. “It’s right there, dumbass!”
“I can’t see, dumbass!” You retaliated.
“What are you blind?” The man asked ironically.
“Yes.” You sassed and glared at what you thought was your captor.
“Oh, so you want to be a smartass. What do you have to say about this?” He pushed the gun onto your head. You screamed again, and tried to shy away, but he pulled you back to it. “Now, you don’t have to see to know what this is. Give me your money!”
You reached around for anything that felt like your wallet, knowing that your purse had spilled everything everywhere. You found it, and shakily tried to hand it over, but nobody took it.
“What the fu-” The burglar started.
Out of nowhere, you heard a projectile being thrown. It whizzed past you and hit someone. The burglar and his gun were practically thrown away from you. A few seconds later, you felt Penny’s fur against your face, she was still barking.
“Penny.” You held onto her and patted her head. “Penny, hush.”
After that first sound, nothing else came that you could hear, not even the footsteps of the person who lightly touched your shoulder.
You screamed again and immediately started punching in that direction. As a reaction, Penny lurched forward at who you thought was the burglar.
“Y/n, it’s me.” The man caught your arms to stop you from hitting him, then also stopped your feet when you started kicking.
“Who is ‘me’? I don’t know you!” You screamed at the newcomer, who definitely wasn’t the first burglar, but you could never be too careful.
“Bucky.” He answered and you were still confused. “I’m Steve’s friend… We met in the hallway when you were leaving last week.”
At the sound of Steve’s name, you relaxed, and tensed again. “How do I know it’s you?”
“You have to trust me?” He sounded unsure of himself. That definitely didn’t ensure your own confidence.
You pursed your lips, “Well, you’ll have to forgive me if i’m running low on trust right now…”
Silence fell between you.
Your eyes were still wide with fright, your heart still beating like a drum.
“I’m trying to help you.” He said softly.
You clenched your jaw in concentration. You were so shaken up, you couldn’t think, “Your head.”
“What?”
You sighed, you hated doing this but it was the only thing you could think about, “Give me your head, for a sec.”
He let go of your wrist and led your hand to his head with a gloved hand that felt off in some way that you still couldn’t pinpoint. You felt his face. His sharp jawline and up into his hair to find it the same length and lastly you felt a baseball cap on top of his head.
You noticed that “Bucky” wasn’t screaming in pain and that Penny wasn’t growling and barking anymore, but instead standing calmly next to you. This gave you a last push of confidence. She thought you were safe, and from what you could tell, you were pretty sure the man trying to help you was Bucky.
“Okay…” You trailed. “Help me up, please.”
Bucky helped you onto your feet and tapped your arm just as Steve had one the week earlier. You reached down and took Penny’s leash from his hand. He got on the other side of you and started to guide you forward, bending down to pick up all the things you had dropped earlier and putting them back into your bag. The two of you started to turn a corner when you stopped.
“Wait.” You nodded your head back to where you came. “What about him?”
“He’ll still be there by the time the cops get here, trust me.” Bucky said and the two of you kept walking until you got to your apartment door.
Bucky took your keys and unlocked your door for you, pushing it open. You looked up at him, being able to see him a bit in the light of the hallway.
You stepped forward and wrapped your arms around his torso. He tensed as soon as you hugged him, but relaxed as you laid your head on his chest, your body still shaking from the previous experience of that night.
“Thank you.” You felt tears welling in your eyes and you blinked them back, not wanting to wet his shirt.
He hesitantly wrapped his arms around you, returning your hug. “You’re… You’re welcome.”