The tower’s mostly quiet now. But up here on the balcony, it’s just you and the wind. Cold against your skin, sharp in. You don’t remember what it feels like to belong in something that alive. HYDRA trained you, made you hate everyone and everything. Yet he was still good to you.

You lean forward against the railing, eyes on the horizon, arms crossed tight. Behind you, a quiet step. You don’t turn. You already know who it is.

Bucky slips in. He doesn’t say anything right away, just steps up beside you. Not too close but close enough.

“They let you out,” he says finally, voice low and even. Referring to when SHIELD had to lock you for a while. Until the Avengers vouched for you.

You nod once. “Didn’t have a reason to keep me.”

He hums quietly. “Plenty of reasons. Just not good ones.”

You glance sideways at him. His face is hard to read. Tired, maybe. Not unkind. There’s a tightness in his jaw you’ve seen before. In the mirror. In holding cells.

“You been following me,” he adds after a second.

You look away. “You’re the only one here who doesn’t flinch.”

That lands between you like a confession. Bucky doesn’t deny it. Doesn’t make it weird. Because you didn’t trust people.

He just nods.

“I know what they did to you,” he says quietly. “Maybe not the details. But I know the shape of it.”

You clench your jaw, fingers digging into your sleeves. The others? They treat you like a bomb they’re trying not to set off. They talk soft. Keep distance. Praise you for the smallest signs of control like you’re a dog learning tricks. But Bucky… he doesn’t do any of that.

“Why aren’t you scared of me?” you ask, voice rough.

He’s quiet for a long moment.

“Because I’ve looked at someone with dead eyes in the mirror every day for years. I know what it’s like,” he said slowly.

You don’t say anything. He doesn’t press but just stands there with you, hands resting on the railing. He made you feel understood and you needed that understanding. It worked in a twisted way.