So warm and soft, what is that? before he opened his eyes he tried to feel his surroundings, he got used to doing so in his army days. so the first thing he registered was the 's usually the opposite, he would wake up with a freezing feeling all over his libs, weird!
He was covered with a soft blanket, very soft and furry to the touch.
he moved his head a bit, this is not a pillow he though, something soft touching his nose
a sweet smell filled his senses, something chocolaty and he knew this fragrance, always smelled like hot cocoa after showering...but, why is he thinking about her after a shower? he still fuzzy with sleep, and he can't think straight, not before his coffee…
what the hell is this? is someone in my arms? without uttering a word, He stills, felt a steady up and down between his arm and that was where that warmth came from.
Not daring to open his eyes yet God did I fell asleep in Steve's bed again? I don't remember going to his room last night. wait! I don't remember going anywhere last night except for the couch! ...on the couch with ...Oh shit!
At that moment all those huge limbs went as rigid as a statue 's, he tried to focus more, it was raining heavily outside today, which was expected in October.
He smiled, that was nice. He likes rainy days.
Moving his metal hand very very slowly to try and 'pinpoint' what is he exactly holding to start his evacuation strategy.
so , up a bit to the north, a ! a bone.a hip bone! shit it's was her waste, he is holding her on her waist
"Oh heavens!" he fell asleep on moon's lap last night and he is still holding her in the middle.
he went on and opened his eyes and the first thing covering his vision was pink! well, skin and a belly button right in front of his eyes. that's warm softness was her skin he thought warmly and bit the inner walls of his cheeks keeping himself from blushing?OMG Barnes, you are not a teenage girl! he rolled his eyes at himself this time.
first things first, he untangled himself from her as slowly as he was capable of, stopping in track at every reaction from her.
Damn! he was a trained soldier for goodness sake, he could be faster about it! but It wasn't something that comes easily when he was trying to not wake up a sleeping girl who had a rough night because of him.
he smiled, another kind of rough night could be fun !he caught himself thinking…
fell onto the ground at the foot of the couch, finally free ..well, the wrong choice of wording here.
he wasn't captive or, he wished to be?! he smiled again, it's funny how everything changes, a whole new perspective comes to view, and wish to belong to someone at a certain point of your life.
on that pleasant thought, he got up and finally looked at that warm creature who kept him safe from his dreams last night.
he could look at her now she had her hair on her face covering her eyes completely, it looked done on purpose cuz it was impossible to have that much hair covering one area of the face. so she did it because of the early morning light coming from the large window in the living room .she must have slept very late. he deduced.
"she used her hair as a cover eyes "he chuckled,"weird girl!" smirking fondly, a gentle smile on his face.
sliding his arms under her to get her to her room, lifted her like she waited for nothing "let's get you somewhere comfortable" he murmured.
she groaned and hugged his chest, then rubbed her upper cheek with a closed left hand like a cat just under his eyes, mumbling something unintelligible.
"oh that is very cat-like little scorpion!" he whispered smiling
he pushed the door of her bedroom open and slipped inside. located the double bed still made because of him! dragging the covers down with one arm and tucked her in.
last time he did so she groaned complaining about the coldness of the sheets under the blankets. no changes today too, still making those complaining mewls. this time he muffled a laugh
" I know to give it time doll"
with a last adjustment of the covers to her shoulders, he lingers for a bit , and just without overthinking about what he was doing, he caressed her sleeping face with a soft fingertip tracking and arranging that rebellious hair of caught himself smiling at that…
he started to head outside when he noticed that it was actually the first time he was in her room when it was light outside. the last time was at night and the lighting was very dim, courtesy of the black shale over lights on either side of the bed! so he couldn't see anything that stepped out!
now, on the other hand, he could see everything, so he took everything in.
someone's bedroom is another aspect of their personality, you can learn so many things about a person just by looking into their room. and Moon's room was the exact image of herself.
bucky couldn't help but be completely taken by the place, after watching what looked like "la piece de resistance" in moon's room. the un-ending shelves of shoes.
it was a pretty spacious room, with one large window next to the messy desk and a small one next to the bed facing the left side, where she is currently at what must be the bathroom door at the end of the wall.
the shoe wall was fully covered from left to right with numerous types and styles of footwear, the boots at the bottom, going up with stilettos, and sandals and other names for other shoes...with every color and all were high heeled….
he smiled again, she sure loved her heels.
but one, in particular, took his attention, it's was on the third shelf next to the desk,
a black leather stilettos, with the leather, pinched in a decorative way at the front making it look like it was gathered on the foot holding the flesh in,the high heel was also leathery he remembered it from the first time he met her, she was wearing it with that scorpion's t-shirt.
the shoe was gorgeous, and with those skinny and never-ending heels, he had to admit that it was sexy, what can he say, high heels did things to a man. when it was on the legs that came with it…hum, what a nice thought!
putting the shoe back where it belonged, Bucky turned to the desk, it was two sets of desks actually, which was covered with so many papers and half-finished drawing, and what looked like comic panels where the computer screen and the massive designer's tablet weren't already occupying…
upon the wall, was another set of shelves, but those were mainly occupied with comics and books and so many figurines and action figures...Ok, so this girl was a massive geek! he smiled again, well it wasn't a surprise really, just looking at her every day with those black rimmed glasses reading and fangirling over Tv show characters was a red flag! the giant posters on the wall helped too,
two posters actually caught his attention, one was a bunch of superheroes grouped together posing victoriously,and what looked like a leathery clade dark character with long hair on the second one, he noticed that the character in the middle with the blue costume and the white "A" on his helmet and a giant star with three stripes on his chest was weirdly familiar, with those blues piercing you ,and a "Captain America" written across the bottom half of the page,
he could see more because of the poor lighting at this side of the room, with the window shades closed, there wasn't much light getting in.
he noticed some unfinished works too on the desk, taking an interest he dragged his hand on the paper, try separating some from the others just to see what was on them.
it looked like a comic panel, with the same blue costumed guy and the 'A 'on his head but this time it's unfinished.
he put his flesh fingers on the paper which was covering another drawing, sliding it delicately to the left to reveal what's under it, a strange feeling that he wasn't supposed to see this In the back of his mind…
he turned his head to look at the girl on the bed sleeping soundlessly, he lifted the paper and couldn't believe his eyes…
It was a black and white drawing of him, sitting next to the living room window with a glass of hot coffee suggested by the smooth pencil shading like smoke ,he was lost in his head with loose hair, hugging himself with his metal arm, looking at the twinkling lights blurred by rain on the glass window…
the subtle work set a mood, he looked so sad, and lonely, and lost, and so many other things at once...but the saddest part was that he remembered feeling all those things when he was indeed sitting there the last time he had a talk with Steve about letting go...and taking chances.
he couldn't believe that she saw him that night! he thought he was alone! but something's not right, he had his hair down here, and he wasn't wearing a white shirt! he was in a hoodie and had his hair up, so this wasn't a reproduction! she didn't watch him that night, it was imagined!
ok, now it makes more sense, 'cus he was the one getting her to bed that night too after she fell asleep on the couch. he smiled fondly,; it looks like it's a pattern starting to form!
and he was so ok with it!
eyes back on the paper, for the last time, so this is how he looked through her eyes?!
a lost puppy!? craving affection and love?!...he closed his eyes and headed for the door, trying to forget about the picture now in his head.
"so, had fun last night?"
"geez" he barked out very surprised! "you startled me you punk!" he said getting to the coffee machine.
"good morning!" replied Steve smugly
"you've been sitting here all along?" added bucky
going to the kitchen cabinet, and pouring the hot black liquid in the mug which said ' don't' talk to me before this, or else they will not find your body' which was a housewarming gift from Moon after he settled in.
"Y-Yeeep!" relied on steve mockingly, he is having so much fun right now!
"ugh! grow up!" bucky eye-rolling at his brother and resuming his task of trying to properly wake up!
settling on the counter next to steve's which matched his mug stating 'don't be fooled by my doe eyes,or you'll be disappointed!' with three exclamation points on it.
Bucky smiled at that, she really is something else, isn't she! steve noticed his good mood and took a sip concealing his loving smile
"did you know she drew me?" said bucky after a comfortable silence, eyes still on his coffee
"yes, I did, what did you think about it?"
" I don't know, I guess I, wasn't ready to see myself through someone else's eyes, looking that pathetic, " silence,"...and ..sad …"he finished his sentence looking at Steve earnestly,
" pathetic? really! " said Steve surprised,"what made you think that?"
"Oh I don't know Steve, maybe the way I was sitting, lamenting and almost crying and looking at the rain?!"Bucky replied defensively, he hated talking about his feelings when he knew he could do shit about it!
how can someone as strong as Bucky belittling themselves like that! steve asked himself this question
regularly since his brother came back from the horrors he lived through this past was never like that! ever! Sam was righ t,it's never the same person coming home from war!
"you!?, looking pathetic! wait a minute, I'll be right back"he cut him, and he headed out to his room with a purpose and emerging back out after a few seconds.
"are we talking about the same thing?"he emphasized his words with a thud of a bunch of comics on the table
"you, Bucky Barnes, looking pathetic through her eyes!?" he added this time with softer voice,"look closely Buck, you're the opposite of pathetic and sad!"
"wait, what is this? " asked bucky surprised and dismissing the portrait,to see what's in front of him.
"what you actually look like in her mind" replied steve with a proud smile on his face
there was the same blue costumed guy again, the one that looked familiar to Bucky, now he knew why! if he didn't, the repeating name 'steve Rogers' must have helped a bit!
"Stevie, is that you!?"he asked with an endearing twinkle in his grey eyes,
"yep! am a superhero Buck!" Steve added posing like his comic on his hips and that squared jaw turned to the left, intimidating a ghost sitting on the couch maybe?!
"haha! that is so cool!" he laughed this time.
"wait , check this one out" added steve while flipping through the pages of the comic and stopping in track at a black clade leathery menace of a man, with long hair and a metal arm.
Bucky needed a minute to grasp everything in front of him,the man was dressed with full black on black, pants and a one-sleeved jackets, all the works.
His face was covered with a mask looking like a mussel and goggles covering pretty much all his face except for the little spacing of his forehead, with a sniper rifle on his back .a hunting knife and a handgun on either side of his thighs, with some heavy boots and knee protection.
A red star was painted on his metal arm, gloved. the other was holding another gun." the winter soldier" written in red cornered with white.
"am...that's supposed to be me?"he asked completely thrown by the situation
"yep,you're a menace. Buddy!" you should read it,"he started to get up ,"I think we have all the numbers in the library" he added heading to the shelves under the giant TV,he noticed a bunch of books there.
"it..it wasn't a comic book, but... a portrait…"he said softly, looking at the pages or at something beyond them, Steve couldn't tell.
"yeah, she does that sometimes…"he replied
looking at the art again,Bucky was mesmerised by the details,the colors and the story of the winter soldier,he will so read it!it's not every day you discover that you're actually a superhero,well, correction a deadly assassin ,a ghost who ends up being a hero ,what stevie summarized for him in a minute.
He remembered seeing some sketches of the soldier on her desk too, and that ginormous poster on her wall.
"the soldier!"he found himself murmuring, like a name of an old friend,or a something closer than that...one thing was sure, he was alluring.
"is this really what she thinks about me? "
"huh! you'd be surprised bro!" finished steve emphasizing his words with a gentle and ferme pat on bucky's shoulder., getting up to the sink.
"and you never thought about telling me that sooner?I don't know,like-hey buck, you know I'm kind of a superhero and your my sidekick!-kind of way?"
"well, it did cross my mind but then, it wasn't something so far-fetched i mean she was always very Biographical in her using her friends as fictional characters weren't much of a surprise! annd you're not my sidekick!"Steve answered eloquently.
"yeah but…."
"just read it, you'll find them all in there, Nat, clint,ohh you will love Tony's character. well actually Tony is the only one who isn't playing a character, she just put all of his life and just gave it to the world to behold!and he couldn't be more happy about it!" steve continued while rinsing his mug and telling his story with a bit of 'so done with the man' all over his face!"a genius , billionaire playboy philanthropist as he puts it"
"and you my friend,...she made you from my stories" he continued, this time the soft and loving, and so much care for this man in front of him was all over his face again,"she asked so many questions, she wanted to know everything about you, about our life growing up!
that's why she could portray you so vividly"
Bucky looked at the pill under his hands,for once, he was excited to see what person he'd be in this pages. maybe it will help him rediscover himself all over, with the help of Moon.
"I have to go buck, , tell me what you think about them later ok?" said Steve heading to the table next to the window to grab his keys." she's still asleep?"
""yeah, she didn't sleep well last night!"
"and who's fault was that!" accused steve teasing him
"oh shut up jerk!i didn't mean to fall asleep like that, am already embarrassed!"so don't add up to it!"
"hehe, you shouldn't be,I bet you a week of dishes that she enjoyed it!"
"yeah, yeah! i was a treat!" he mocked half hoping for it actually!
Bucky zoned out for a bit, remembering last night's events, how safe he felt last night.
and how none of his nightmares came for his sanity for once, since forever!
how he fell asleep so easily when he spent hours just tiering his body so that he would just shut down hoping to never wake up at times when it was particularly hard.
"…..starting early, but." Steve continued then stopped on track.
"what...sorry,I was lost for a bit"
"does it surprise you that much?" Steve added after a short silence, studying his friend for a second..
"what does?" asked bucky
"how easy it was!" he added
Bucky didn't have to answer, as always leave it to good old Stevie to give words to his thoughts.
"yeah…"the softest reply came to his ear, wasn't even sure if it was for him or for himself!
stevie smiled and already opening the front door.
"don't forget your umbrella" shouted bucky, and at that moment, the weather outside chose to let everyone know that he was no joke at this time of year! making everyone notice him with a blinding set of lightning and a striking growl of thunder
"shit completely forgot about that!" he grabbed one in the closet next to the door,
"what would I be without you!" he added while blowing a kiss in the direction of his brother!
"yeah yeah! you'll be wet that's what!"he relied upon dismissing his idiot of a jerk!
"who would be wet?" a third member finally came to play!
"Me, if I didn't have a loving Bucky to remind me about the very nice weather outside!" joked steve
"I see, what a lucky bastard!." she added "wish we all had one! do you lend him perhaps...i'll be very generous and pay fairly!" she continued with the joke!
Bucky just rolled his eyes, which were mirroring the color of today's weather! a stormy grey, with a set of lightings of their own when he had something in mind!
"Just gerra a'here!"
Moon and steve were both laughing earnestly, Steve finally headed out after winking at his girl! "see you two later!"
"say Hi to pepper for me," said Moon. just before the door closes.
"good morning Love!" she finally turned to face a suddenly nervous Bucky Barnes!