msbeeinmybonnet:

“Bucky!”

This hit me only today and I’m kicking myself for not seeing it sooner, but I’m also wondering why I haven’t seen anyone else scream about this? I guess it could be because I’m looking in the wrong places but I feel like this should be echoing all over fandom.

Bucky remembered Steve. Wait, no, not Bucky, the Winter Soldier remembered Steve.

‘The man on the bridge’ suddenly takes on a double meaning. The Winter Soldier isn’t only talking about the man he saw that day on the bridge in DC; he’s also asking about the man he saw in a memory flash, on a speeding train in the Alps. They look the same, they sound the same, they both called him Bucky. They must be the same.

I also think that it’s extraordinary that the Winter Soldier still has access to those memories. He remembers the last few seconds before a massive trauma, which is astonishing.

Another thing that hits me like a punch in the gut is how the Winter Soldier remembers Steve. He remembers the panicked shout and then how Steve desperately tries to reach him while hanging onto the railing. Steve is frantic and horrified, and it’s obvious that it’s because of the Winter Soldier. For some reason the Winter Soldier at one point in time inspired such an emotional response in another human being. Someone cared that much for him.

No wonder the Winter Soldier is so hung up on the man on the bridge. Not only do they have a history he can’t remember, but he also loved the Winter Soldier, which is an entirely new concept for the human-turned-weapon. And yet it feels right, it feels true.

But I knew him.

(gif source: trollux)