Steve walks up to the diner, hands in his pockets as he reads the sign. He'd never heard of the place before but apparently it had high recommendations. He shrugs a little to himself before walking in. The door creaked and a dingy bell dinged. He looks around the place; it was dirty and flies buzzed around. He frowns a little and sees an old lady hunched over the counter, scrubbing it vigorously with a rag. He observes everything and frowns a little more; this couldn't be the place, he'd probably taken a wrong turn somewhere.

He turns to leave and feels a hand grip his arm. He turns around to see the lady grasping his arm tightly, her nails digging in.

"Excuse me?" The lady asks, cocking her head to the side. She reminded Steve a little of a crow; her eyes were bright and her motions were jerky, her hair was silvery-brown.

"Sorry, I must be in the wrong place," he explains, pulling his arm away from her. She observes him quietly and blinks slowly, he grabs the door handle and tries to yank it open but she sticks her foot in the way, preventing anything from happening.

"Dear boy, has nobody told you?" She cackles which turns into a hacking cough. Steve knew now would be the time to leave, but he was stubborn and curious.

"Told me what?" He asks hesitantly, folding his arms securely across his chest. She smiles, a toothless grin, grabs his arm and pulls him close. She licks her thin lips as she looks him up and down.

"You're in my place, now, boy. Good luck getting away from Ms. Birdsong," she cackles and he doesn't know to be amused or confused, both would work. He went with simply amused because there was no way this was real. A publicity stunt, something to raise charity money, maybe he stumbled across a famous tourist attraction.

"Ms. Birdsong. Right, well, I have somewhere to go. Sorry, ma'am," he tries, again pulling from her grasp. Her smile fades and her eyes narrow a little.

She starts chanting something and Steve frowns. He wasn't superstitious but this was just creepy. He forces the door open and hurries out, he slams the door behind him but the chanting was ringing in his ears, sending chills up his spine. He shakes his head forcefully and gets into his car, and he drives off.

///

"Hey, Steve, how're things goin'?" Steve's best friend Bucky Barnes asks, the phone pressed to his ear as he folds laundry with his other hand.

"Fine, fine," Steve replies distractedly, driving along.

"Really. What's going on, then?" He asks conversationally, folding a shirt.

"Just went to a new diner. It's probably some type of haunted house thing," Steve says, more to himself than Bucky. The man on the other end pauses for a second or two.

"Really," he replies with and Steve frowns a little.

"Yeah, why?" He asks, not liking the tone of voice Bucky had adopted.

"Nothing, I've just been there myself. Kinda creepy, yeah," Bucky chuckles half-heartedly and Steve feels suspicious.

"Ah," is all he replies with, pulling into the driveway of his place.

"So anyway, what're you doing tonight? Sharon comin' over?" He asks, faking niceties about Sharon. Steve knew he hated her guts, and vice versa, and that's why he never really saw much of her because of Bucky. Who would he rather have, a girl or his best friend?

"No, I don't think so," he responds and he's pretty sure he hears Bucky sigh softly, in relief.

"Well, good, 'cause I'm comin' over tonight," Bucky says and Steve raises an eyebrow, unlocking his door.

"Oh, really?" He hums, pushing the door open. The brunette hums something back.

"Yup. 'Cause I bet you'll be lonely and I got somethin' to tell you," he says, his voice taking a more serious tone at the end of his sentence.

"That's not ominous in any way," Steve comments and Bucky chuckles.

"No, not at all. See you later, pal," he says and Steve nods to himself.

"See you then, Buck," he replies before hanging up.

///

Steve heads downstairs when he hears his door creak open. He looks around the corner and is not surprised to find Bucky sitting on his couch already. He was an amazing lock picker.

"I would say I'm surprised you're here so early, but..." Steve shrugs as he walks into the room. Bucky smirks a little and gets up, he stretches his arms.

Steve swings open the fridge, looking for something to eat. Bucky gets a glass of water, watching the blonde quietly.

"So there was something you needed to tell me?" Steve asks, his head still in the fridge. Bucky takes a breath and sets his cup down.

"Yep. Uh..." he trails off, not sure how to say it. That lady who worked at the diner, Ms. Birdsong, was a witch. And she was good at hexes. Steve pulls out and closes the fridge, an eyebrow raised at Bucky.

"Well, uhm, that lady there? Ms. Birdy or whatever?" He continues, watching the blonde, who nods to show he's following. "She's a witch and probably hexed you to.. uh... well, to crave meat." He says slowly and Steve raises the other eyebrow.

"Right," he says sarcastically, obviously not believing any of it. Bucky sighs and crosses his arms, he knew it would be like this.

"To crave meat. That's all you've got?" Steve scoffs.

"Human meat, Steve. Creepy place, hexes, chanting and a curse, a witch, obviously," Bucky shrugs and the blonde shakes his head, scoffing again.

"Aren't you a little old to believe ghosts stories, Buck? There's no way," Steve says and the brunette throws his arms in the air.

"Fine. Don't come cryin' to me once you find out you can't eat anything other than human flesh without throwing up," Bucky states before sauntering out.

"Other way around, Bucky!" Steve calls after him as the brunette gets into his own car. Steve shakes his head and sighs before retreating back inside and closing the door. That guy sure was a character, all right.

///

Sure enough, Bucky's claims seemed to be coming true. The next time Steve ate anything it immediately made him sick to his stomach. He at first didn't believe what Bucky said, but he forced himself to at least contemplate it.

"Buck?" He asks, calling up the brunette.

"Well, well, how's pukin' up your lungs?" Bucky asks in a cheerful voice. Steve rolls his eyes.

"Shut up. Uh, you might've had a point," he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What? Little ol' me who knows what you're going through?" Bucky says innocently.

"How did you know?" Steve asks and the brunette goes silent.

"Congrats, you caught me. She's hexed me too," he replies and Steve freezes.

"When?"

"Three months ago."

Steve swallows. He hadn't even known and Bucky could've been very tempted to eat him, as weird and sickening that sounded.

"Oh. Were you ever...?" He trails off, taking a seat on his couch. Bucky lets out a deep breath.

"Tempted? Once or twice. I'd never do that to you, pal," he assures and Steve nods a little.

"Well, how have you not... you know, died yet?" He asks next.

"One guess, Stevie," the brunette sighs and Steve swallows again. "Only bad guys, don't worry." He adds.

"I'm coming over, okay, Steve?"

"Yeah, okay," the blonde breathes, running a hand down his face. True to his word, Bucky is quick to hurry over.

"What do we do?" Steve greets him with at the door, letting him in.

"I don't know. Live with it?" Bucky sighs, taking a seat on his couch. The blonde paces a little, shaking his head slightly.

"And become cannibals?" He scoffs, hands behind his back as he paces. Bucky watches him quietly.

"Can you think of any other choices?" He asks plainly and Steve glances at him. He sighs a little and shakes his head.

"I could just not eat," he suggests and Bucky makes a face.

"C'mon, you need to eat, Steve, or you'll kill yourself," he sighs. The blonde paces a little more and their conversation goes deep into the night.

///

Bucky woke to the sound of retching and he sighed, pushing himself up from where he'd curled into the couch. He rubs his tired eyes and his stomach growls. He ignores it, however, and gets up. He walks over to the bathroom door and knocks.

"You okay, pal?" He asks Steve who doesn't reply right away.

"One guess, Buck," he huffs before losing it again. The brunette sighs a little.

Several minutes later Steve reappeared, a little shaky but fine. Bucky was in the kitchen.

"You know you can't eat regular food now, Stevie," he sighs, looking at the blonde. Steve shrugs a little, looking down at the floor.

"Maybe," he replies quietly and Bucky sighs again, he pushes himself off the counter and takes a step closer to the blonde.

"We're going out to get you something to eat," Bucky orders and Steve immediately starts trying to back out.

"Nope, nope, nope, nothing doing, Bucky," he states, folding his arms. The brunette huffs.

///

As it turned out, Bucky was super persuasive. It was a difficult life, but they made sure to only pick off bad guys and hydra agents. It was hard, but they did it together.