Chapter Text
Sam and Bucky haven't spoken in two years. It was a stupid fight that made them part ways. Ever since Sam gave the shield up, everything changed. They had constant fights about it. Constant disagreements. Until one day, it all exploded, and Bucky ended up leaving.
Sam didn't even remember what the fight was about. But ever since they had that fight, Bucky disappeared, and he never heard from him again. Fine. He didn't need him anyways.
If the man didn't want to be found, Sam wasn't going to force it on him. He tried calling a few times after that incident, but of course, Bucky never picked up his phone. So Sam eventually gave up on the idea of trying to find him back.
It's not that he didn't care about Bucky. He did. He knew that Bucky had his reasons to be mad about giving up the shield. But Sam was too proud to admit it. And when he was finally ready to admit it, Bucky was completely gone. For the past two years, Sam didn't hear a single word from Bucky.
He was on a job trip in New York. He hasn't been in the city for a while now, but he had some important meetings he had to go to, so he flew in. He was just on his way to one of the meetings (which he really didn't want to show up for) when he heard noises coming from an alley. His senses told him to go towards the other direction. To just get away and never look back. But as the new Captain, he couldn't really do that. He had to go and see what was all the noise about. So he headed towards the alley. As he got closer, he could see a group of men beating up a homeless person. If there was one thing that Sam hated, it was People hurting the weak. He could hear the small noises the man on the ground was making. It was awful, almost pathetic. He was barely moving, shielding his face with his arms. He was wearing black leather gloves.
Sam frowned for a moment, but then shook the thought off. It couldn't be... no. Definitely not. He shook his head and raised his gaze to look at the group of men, before he yelled "Hey!" Towards them, which made them all look at him. "Who the fuck are you?" One of the men asked. They were all tall, bulky, and pretty scary looking. Sam couldn't see the man's face. He was visibly shaking and curled into a ball on the ground.
"Leave the man alone" Sam said lowly, glaring at all of them. "He owes us 200 dollars!" A shorter man yelled back. Sam huffed. "Are you beating a man up over two hundred dollars? Jesus christ" he muttered, taking a few steps closer.
One of the men chuckled dryly. "That, and it's also fun hearing this lowlife beg for his mommy" he nudged the man on the floor with his boot, which made the poor man yelp out in pain.
"Hey! Enough!" Sam yelled again, more sternly this time. He tucked his hand in his pocket and fished for some money. He pulled out a hundred dollar bill. "Here. I have a hundred here. Just... take it and fuck off. Before I get mad." He shoved it into one of the men's hands.
Then, the man's eyes widened "Dude, that's the falcon!" He told his other friend. They all looked at him in shock. "Look man, we were just having fun" he stuttered. The men almost looked intimidated by him. "Listen, man. We just wanted to scare him off a bit. Have some laughs. We didn't want to hurt him-".
Sam was furious, but he tried to keep it together. "FUN? This is your idea of FUN? Beating up a defenseless person? Just... just fuck off." He muttered. He didn't have to tell them twice. They all ran off the moment they figured out who Sam was. And now, it was all quiet. Except for the soft whimpers from the man on the floor.
Sam slowly knelt in front of him and spoke in a gentle voice, as he learned to do many times in his work at the VA "Hey man, you're safe now. They're gone. They won't hurt you anymore" he said softly.
The guy raised his face to look at Sam. "Th-than' you". He mumbled, slurring his words. The voice sounded somehow familliar to him, even when slurred, And then, when the man's eyes met Sam's, Sam felt his stomach drop. "Bucky?" He breathed out in disbelief.