He walked down the park. It was a dark night, the moon was hidden behind clouds and the air smelled like rain. The smell and cold wind were the only things that kept him in reality. They made him feel alive, sort of. He had a nightmare. They were always about his time at Hydra. Either his fall from the train, the torture or experiments. The worst ones however were about his Winter Soldier Missions. Even though he knows that it was not him, he can't help but to feel guilty and blame himself. His nightmare this night was about a mission. He can't remember all the details only that he succeeded which meant that he had killed someone, again.
Bucky stuffed his hands in his hoodies pocket when he heard a paper crumbling. He took his hand out and held a crumbled flyer. It read "pets for vets". It must have been one of the flyers he picked up the last time he tried to attend a veteran meeting. As always he bailed before it even started just grabbing a few fliers before leaving. He usually throws away all the flyers, however, this one he kept. The flyer was about a project a local animal shelter had started a few years ago. Veterans, or in general, people in need of support and love could visit the shelter and cuddle and talk with cats and dogs. The special thing about the project the shelter was open 24/7. And right now it was 3am in the morning. He decided to take a look at the shelter since he was close by and had tried almost everything else to tackle his nightmares and nothing worked so far.
She sat behind the front desk. The only sounds where from her laptop speakers and an occasional bark or meow from the animals. (y/n) was already used to this. She was usually on nightshift. They were peaceful and relaxing. People only very rarely came in and the routine wasn't hard. It only consists of regularly feeding small puppies and kittens, which was the best part, and taking a stroll through the shelter every hour to check in the animals. It only got stressful when a new pet was brought in especially if they were injured. This night was just like most of the others. The majority of animals was asleep and those who weren't kept quiet.
(y/n) watched some youtube videos and roamed around on tumblr when the motion sensor from outside the shelter started to blink. She looked at the vide feed from the camera taping the entrance. It showed a tall bulky person with a hoodie pacing in front of the entrance. She had seen this far to often to be scared. A lot of people who wanted to take part in the "pets for vets" program were to scared to come in right away. For some it only took a few paces before entering, others needed a few nights of pacing. (y/n) could only imagine how hard it must be for these people to come here for the first time, mostly in the middle of the night.
The closer Bucky got to the shelter the more fears started to rise up inside. What if someone recognized him? What if other people where already there? What if the animals would attack him? What if he would hurt the small little creatures? What is? During all this thinking he didn't realise that he started pacing around in front of the shop. He debated with himself whether he should go inside, if this would actually help if he did. The thing that got him out of his thought was a bird singing. He looked up and saw that the sun was already rising. Only then he realised that he had stood and paced in front of the store for about 4 hours. He quickly looked around before hastily walking away back to his apartment, without another night of sleep, as always.
(y/n) continually checked the monitor to see whether the person was still pacing around. And the person was up until the first rays of sunshine came through the window. Having someone pace around for so long was not new, but also not common. She wondered if he would be back the next night or if the person needed a few more night before he or she came back. Shortly after him leaving (y/n)s replacement arrived and she walked home hoping and wishing that whoever was in front of the shelter that night would have a good day.
It took Bucky another three horrible nightmares before returning to the shelter. This time he stood across the street again debating whether to go in or not. He took another look at the crumbled flyer and read: "The only people who listen without judging are animal". He took one deep breath, stuffed the flyer back into his hoodie and walked towards the shelter.
Inside the motion sensor started to blink and before (y/n) could look at the monitor, the doors opened and the tall and bulky person stood in front of her.