I'm very happy to see that my fanfic is well received. Thanks to the first comment! You can't imagine how happy it made me. Hope you all like this first chapter too.
Let me know what you want and what you would like to read.
CHAPTER 1: GIRLS, BONES, PARTIES, WAR
-3 months later-
Sam walked slowly in the middle of the darkness. He couldn't be seen or heard, it was very important catch him at the right time. He had his gun in his hand, ready to use it. This time he probably would use it. He advanced almost on tiptoe, stuck to the wall, as he approached his target. Little by little, he could see the light coming from the back of the residence. A little more and he would have him on his hands.
He had been hearing these strange noises for weeks. At first he worried, but he couldn't tolerate anymore. This had to end.
He kept moving without being noticed, until he had hit the edge of the wall, near the door, had taken air, and then he jumped to surprise him by pointing him with the gun:
- TAKE YOUR DAMN HANDS OF MY FLAN NOW BARNES!
There was a crash behind the refrigerator door, a clogged sound and the sound of a spoon falling to the floor, splashing the flan around.
-WHAT THE FUCK, STUPID, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? - Bucky yelled, closing the refrigerator tightly.
Sam started to laugh hysterically. It was one of those few times when he managed to surprise Bucky. Most of the time it wasn't possible because the fucking guy was impossible to catch with his guard down. Well, it wasn't easy to surprise a damn murderer, but this time he had managed to get him to hit himself with the refrigerator. He still had the water pistol pointing, and fired a jet that went straight to his neck.
-Ohh come on ... -Bucky complained, it was 2 in the morning and he only went to see if the flan that Sam had prepared was ready. He just wanted to taste it, it smelled good a few hours ago.
-I told you that if you tried to eat the flan without me, I would shoot you.
-God, Sam, it's 2 in the morning, I've been like 50 years without eating anything else than a fucking serum and you come to annoy me for your damn pudding. It wasn't even that good.
-Yes, sure it was terrible. - Sam now directed a stream of water to Bucky's flannel trousers. He was happy, he finally managed to catch him. -You're going to have to clean that, little Cinderella. I wasn't trapping the floor for you to spill flan in it.
-Maybe it wouldn't be necessary if you just don't try to kill me when I get close to the refrigerator.
-Bullshit, clean or I'm gonna wet your bed too. - Sam threw the water pistol at the dishwasher and went to his room.
It had been about 3 months since Sam adopted Bucky as a Cinderella - roommate - friend. Eventually they started to know each other better, talk more and get along. It's not something they would have wanted voluntarily, but it wasn't worth being unfriendly. They were practically alone. Clint was in Canada with his family. Pepper raising Morgan, Bruce being an influencer, T'Challa in Wakanda, Steve enjoying his grandchildren in Brooklyn, the spider boy traveling with Tony's driver, and S.H.I.E.L.D. recovering slowly. The only person they saw constantly was Wanda. The girl traveled to see Clint often and had become the older sister of his children. She had lost almost everything. Vision was gone, his brother, even the family she had found in the Avengers. That's why they went out with her, went to parks or to new places. They trained to keep up the habit, but the retirement was only good for Steve. They could still give more, although there were not many interesting events in recent months.
Sam leaned back on his bed. He looked toward the ceiling, minimally visible in the darkness. He sighed tiredly, though he did nothing. Can you be tired of doing nothing? He had returned to his work with group therapies, and he set out to help Buck along the way. Not that it was very helpful, he supposed, but sometimes you need to be listened a little bit. And being recommended movies, and being teached how to connect the Nintendo Switch.
That idiot had become important. Not as important as the microwave, but close to that. He'd been remembering more things. But good things, not the images of his victims before dying, as he usually did. God, he didn't even want to imagine what it must be like to live with that. Poor guy, it wasn't his fault, although he deal with it like no one else. Sam supposed that Bucky survived everything because he was a strong person, and with that same strength he would recover. It would only take time, and that asshole had plenty.
Bucky threw the last piece of kitchen paper in the trash and snorted. The flan was delicious, although Sam gave him a good scare. He knew he would eventually catch him, because it wasn't the first time he sneaked bits of food out of the refrigerator or the oven at night. God, eating was wonderful. No doubts that was a pleasure denied to him for so long, and now at last he could go out and put whatever he wanted to his mouth. Among all the flavors and new foods, the salty was the best. His favorite? Pizza, definitely he couldn't get tired of eating it and trying varieties. The whole world was available to him in a new and positive way. But it wasn't the same to enjoy everything without Steve.
He couldn't deny it, he felt very sad for his decision, but obviously they couldn't stay together forever. His friend finally had the opportunity to do something for his own life, for his own interests after fighting and putting all the others before himself. He deserved that life with Peggy, absolutely. But having it so close and at the same time so far away was not easy.
He threw himself to his bed. He thought that he would never stop feeling it like a cloud. The day he went out with Sam to buy it was great. Buck literally sat down, leaned back and stretched on every existing bed in the stores they visited, until he chose the one he liked more. As Sam said, after so much time living badly it felt like sleeping on marshmallows, although they had to go buy some after realizing that he didn't know what they were.
Sam was a great person, he definitely deserved the shield and the name of Captain America, although he believed that no recognition in the world could do justice to everything he had done for the universe, and for Bucky himself. He wish one day he could find a partner who could give him all the affection he deserved, and who could bear him too.
But what about him? Could he ever find a woman who would not be shocked with everything he drags? Before the war it was so easy, just a smile and he could get anything he wanted, although he never took advantage of that. His mother didn't raise a cretin, but boy, she wouldn't be happy that he was more than 100 years old and not married to a beautiful and intelligent girl.
But at the same time the idea of getting married and having children seemed like a dream to which he had involuntarily resigned. Hope had been snatched away when he was caught in the snow, with several broken bones, stripped of a pair on his left arm. Girls, bones, parties, wars. It was like having the worst nightmare and waking up, but continue with the feeling in the chest.
He turned on the bed and took a deep breath, feeling the air reach to the last corner of his lungs and escaping after a few seconds. Girls, dances, parties, children, a dog and a garden.
He closed his eyes, he was over-thinking too much again. It would be best to try to induce himself to sleep, so he began to imagine.
A garden, a large one, wide, without bars, in the middle of the forest.
A house surrounded by trees ...
Trees in spring, overflowing ...
Trees in summer, with some fruits sticking out ...
Trees in autumn, with leaves gliding in the air ...
Brown leaves ...
Orange leaves ...
Red leaves…
Red leaves…
A garden dyed red ...
Red tufts flying in the air along with the leaves ...
A harmonious laugh, among trees sprinkled with snow.
