every day i wake up and remember steve quite literally asked bucky to kill him. like he actually told bucky to finish it because he was with him until the end. he acknowledged it was the end. he stopped fighting back for the first time in his life. he finally threw the shield down after years of doubting his purpose as captain america because he didn’t want to have to hurt bucky. he begged bucky to not make him have to fight him at all because he couldn’t let people die but as soon as he’d saved everyone else he gave up on himself and was planning on going down on the helicarrier with bucky. he freed bucky from being trapped under the wreckage even though he knew bucky was still going to try and kill him. he decided he’d rather let himself die at bucky’s hands than live in a world where bucky didn’t remember him. like. what the hell.
That shield was meant to protect Bucky, not to hurt him.
“The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them.” —J.R.R Tolkien, 1966
