bucky did not leave steve

stuckykat:

to the people who keep saying that bucky is a changed man because he ran during the fight with tony in siberia: i completely disagree with you. the “no! not without you!” still happened in civil war. closely watch that scene again. i have a link if you need it.

at the beginning of the fight in siberia, after tony watches the winter soldier murder his parents, tony attacks bucky with the intention to kill him. steve tries to intervene and tony throws him across the room and ties his legs up. steve breaks free while the building is falling apart around them. steve tells bucky “go, get out of here!” and he runs for it. tony is blasting at bucky, going after him again, but steve blocks his path. tony tells him “move!” steve holds his ground. so tony flies over his head. if tony intended to hurt steve he would have blasted him away instead of flying over him. but he doesn’t. tony then brings down part of the ceiling to block steve from following him as he chases after bucky.

bucky’s climbing his way out of the pit. steve gets past the rubble, gets to bucky and says “he’s not going to stop. go!” and again bucky runs. tony’s about to shoot at bucky, but steve throws his shield to block it. again, tony could have shot at steve, knocked him out and gotten him out of the way, but he doesn’t. he blasts the shield away and focuses on his target again.

im recapping this to show you tony has at no point tried to cause any serious harm to steve. tony is only deflecting steve’s attacks. steve is not a target. steve is not in any danger (yet). bucky ran because he is the target. steve is just an object that keeps getting in tony’s way. tony is not focusing on steve at all at this point.

bucky and tony fight, bringing bucky away from his exit. steve jumps on them and they all fall to the bottom of the pit. steve’s at the very bottom of the pit, tony is a little bit above him, and bucky’s up a level or two above them both. tony is facing steve and talking to him (i dont even think he knows bucky is above him). and here it is. bucky! could! have!! run!!! this is bucky’s most opportune moment to get the hell out of there but he doesn’t. why? because the fight changes at this moment.

steve says, “this isn’t going to change what happened” and tony says, “i don’t care. he killed my mom” and tony flies full blast at steve. this is the first!! time in this entire sequence that tony attacks steve. he’s no longer defending himself from steve. he is on the offensive!! tony’s punching at steve’s face so hard it’s breaking the concrete. steve is now a target!! steve is in danger!! bucky’s watching and what does he do? he jumps off the ledge with steve’s shield and joins the fight. when tony blasts steve in the stomach bucky goes fucking apeshit. steve’s in danger! and bucky is not leaving! not without him.

TL:DR bucky had the opportunity to run in CATFA, but he didn’t leave because steve was in danger. in CACW bucky had the opportunity to run when steve was not in danger and he took it. the moment steve was in danger bucky stayed and fought for steve. bucky is not “a changed man” in this aspect. it is still true that the one thing hydra could never change was bucky’s loyalty and love for steve.