listen i know we’re always on about how much steve loves bucky and how much he would do and did and give up for him etc, but consider: bucky spent two years hiding from steve, who he remembered, who he loves, the only person who knew him before he was a brainwashed weapon, potentially the only person who would be on his side if things went bad, the only person in the world who gives a damn about him. bucky spent two years hiding from him and when steve finally found him he tried to convince steve he didn’t really remember him. bucky did all this, sacrificed having someone in his life who loves him, he did it all to protect steve. from himself, from the dangers of associating with him, from the chance that bucky would hurt him again if he was triggered. bucky knows steve better than anyone, he knew how relentlessly steve would defend him and bucky tried to protect him from doing that, he tried to spare him. that’s how much bucky loves steve. that’s how selfless his love for steve is.
When I look at Bucky’s face in this scene, I just see terror.
He’s trapped on the same train as Arnim Zola, and he’s terrified of being recaptured and experimented on again.
Ever since his rescue from the Hydra facility, there’ve been signs that he’s not ok.
Bucky stops faking a smile the moment Steve turns away from him.
At the bar when Steve is recruiting the Howling Commandos, Bucky sits apart from everyone, tossing back whiskey like someone struggling with bad memories. He’s already got the thousand yard stare. And when he talks to Steve, it’s with an edge of false bravado.
When Steve first finds Bucky, he was repeating his name, rank and serial number like a mantra, a sign that he’d probably been interrogated and/or tortured. Another blogger pointed out that the bruises on his cheek and forehead look like they were caused by the equipment used to wipe him in CATWS. Zola, in all likelihood, had already begun the process of breaking Bucky down.
Can you imagine the courage it took for Bucky to follow Steve onto that train?
When Bucky said “I’m with you to the end of the line,” he meant every single word.
And yet he manages to pass it off with the Coney Island Cyclone joke! You KNOW Bucky just wants to vomit, and not from the ride down to the train, but from what’s waiting for him there.
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