It's been about two weeks since Maxim came. In that time, Bucky has learned a lot about Maxim. Mainly three things: one- he's a very energetic kid. He has a hard time waiting. Two- he's very friendly and sweet, always wants to be your friend. Once he gets to know you, he'll come out of his little, quiet shell and talk your head off. Three- he's not a morning person. The only time Bucky has ever seen Maxim wide awake after just waking up is when he isn't there beside him when Maxim wakes up. Maxim panics cause Bucky isn't there with him and Maxim thinks he left him. It breaks his heart to see Maxim's panic face so he tries to be near when he's asleep.

Bucky woke him up today though, which means Maxim didn't go into a frenzy and was instead a little grumpy. Normally Bucky would just let him sleep till he woke up on his own, but Maxim's tutor is coming today. They're supposed to be meeting at 8. The time was 7:25. Bucky had about thirty minutes to wake Maxim up, get him dressed, eat breakfast, and be ready.

He had already woke Maxim up; the problem was getting Maxim out of the bed. Bucky let him sleep for as long as he could. He got himself up, got ready, tidied the apartment, fed Alpine, entertained Alpine with a fake fish tied to stick until Bucky saw it was almost time. He stood at the beside now, looking at Maxim.

(Maxim, you got to get up.) Bucky shook his shoulder. Maxim whined and scooted away from Bucky. (Come on buddy. Don't you wanna meet your teacher?)

Maxim hid his face under a pillow. (Can't we just sleep?) He pulled the blanket over the pillow.

Bucky laughed. (Sorry bud, but we can't.)

(Please?)

(You've slept as long as you can. Come on, lets change into your clothes.) Maxim didn't move. Bucky looked at the clock it was 7:27 now. He pulled the blanket completely off of Maxim. (We gotta go.) He shrieked and pulled the blanket back over him. Bucky huffed out a breath. (I promise when we're done you can sleep til whenever but we got to get ready, okay?)

(But why is it so early!) Maxim exclaimed under the pillow and blanket.

(Something are just early and we have to do it.) Bucky went to Maxim's part of the closet. They shared since there was only one. The closet is big and Bucky doesn't have that many clothes to use all the space in there anyways. He started looking through Maxim's shirts. (Anything specific you want to wear?)

(No.)

Bucky walked back to the side of the bed Maxim was closest to. He laid out a shirt and shorts on the bed. (Here you can wear this.) Bucky pulled the cover back again, but this time Maxim wasn't there. It took Bucky a moment to remember Maxim can turn invisible. He was trying to hide. Bucky couldn't help but grin. (Nice try, but just because I can't see you don't mean I don't know you're there.)

Maxim groaned and went back to normal. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. (Okay, I'm up.)

Bucky ruffled his hair. (Good.)

0-0-0

It took about 25 minutes for Maxim to get ready. After changing, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, and petting Alpine- it was a morning routine now that Maxim talk to Alpine about what he was going to do that day- Maxim is ready to meet his teacher. Bucky felt proud of himself for his accomplishment. He never dreamed it be this hard to get a kid up.

(Are you excited?) Maxim shrugged. He sat on the couch playing with the two headed dragon he got at the mall.

(Um... Is there...) Maxim took interest in poking each of the spikes on the dragon's back, not looking at him. (Are we going to read? Cause I don't know how to read. What if she gets mad at me cause I can't.) Maxim looked at Bucky then.

(I'm sure your teacher knows you can't read yet.) There was a flash of fear in Maxim's eyes right then. Bucky was quick to assure Maxim the teacher won't be mad. (But it's okay. Don't worry. She doesn't expect you to already know how.)

A mix of confusion and relief flashed over Maxim's face. (She doesn't?)

(Nope. That's why she's here. To help you learn.)

(Really?) Maxim started smiling. (Then I can read just like you, Bucky!)

Bucky laughed and stood up. (You will.)

Maxim continued playing with his toys until there was a knock on the door.

(That should be her. You ready?) Bucky went to answer the door with Maxim behind close behind him. The teacher was an older woman. She carried a square, purple bag with her. She smiled kindly at Bucky and stretched out her hand.

"Hello, my name is Evelina Grigory. I assume you're Mr. Barnes?" They stopped shaking hands.

"Yes." She looked down to Maxim then. "And this is Maxim?" Bucky shifted to where Maxim wasn't behind him. He put a hand on his back and gently pushed him in forward.

She put her bag down and started talking in fluent Russian to Maxim. (Hello, I'm Evelina, but all my students call me Mrs. Eve. I'm going to be your teacher for now. If that's okay will you?)

Maxim looked at her with big eyes. (Yeah.)

She smiled again and picked up her bag. (Well lets get started, shall we?)

Bucky lead the way to the kitchen island. Maxim climbed up in the stool next to Bucky while Mrs. Eve sat across them. She laid her bag on the table and folded her arms. Bucky found himself sitting up straighter at her posture.

Alpine jumped on the counter then. "Sorry." Bucky stood up and picked Alpine up. "I didn't think about him jumping up here." Maxim giggled.

"Oh it's okay." Mrs. Eve said. "I have two cats of my own. Yours is so cute."

"Thanks." He did have the best looking cat, he thought. "I'm just going to go put him on his bed." He turned around and went to the cat tower in the corner.

"Sorry Alpine," Bucky whispered. "But you can't jump up there right now."

Alpine meowed. "I know I let you on there all the time but this is different." He set Alpine on his tower and pet him. Alpine meowed. "You understand, right?"

Alpine responded with rubbing his head against Bucky's hand. "Thanks." He pet him one last time before returning to the table.

"Sorry again." Bucky sat back down next to Maxim who was grinning.

Mrs. Eve waved a hand in the air. "Don't worry about it. My cats jump on everything."

Bucky chuckled. They started to get to work then. "Before we get started in the actual learning today, I wanted to give you a few papers." She pulled out a blue binder from her bag and opened it. It looked very organized with a bunch of colorful dividers in it. "Mr. Stark has told me about Maxim and how he came here. It broke my heart to hear it. My priority is to get Maxim ready to live a life as a normal kid and have the same academic opportunities any other kid has."

Bucky nodded. She pulled out a stack of papers stapled together and handed it to Bucky before she went on. "This is the school curriculum and standards for a kindergarten class. We'll be following it throughout the year. It's towards the end of summer and not yet time for school to begin so Maxim will be getting some what of a head start. He is at the age where children usually start school so I don't think he's that behind." She pulled out another piece of paper.

"This is a list of my plans to teach him English. I'm going to introduce Maxim to the English language, but I want him to learn to read in his first language fluently also. The last thing is this." She handed Bucky another paper with a list on it. "This is a list of things he'll need. It's not much but having folders and notebooks are convenient to start teaching him to organize."

Bucky stacked the papers in front of him and glanced at Maxim. He was fiddling with the hem of his shirt. He nudged Maxim's knee with his. Maxim looked at him and smiled when Bucky gave him a thumbs up.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Mrs. Eve's exclamation caused both Bucky and Maxim to look up. She held out a blue piece of paper. It had columns down in it. The words were in Russian. "This is a reading log. I want him to read a book at least once a day. I know some kids have a hard time so I reward them for every twenty books."

Bucky grins at that. He predicts Mrs. Eve is going to be changing how many books to read before the reward soon. Maxim can sit through ten in one day. The kid likes to read.

She explained the reading log to Maxim and moved on. Next she had a math workbook and Writing workbook and showed it to Maxim. They started a lesson then and Bucky felt awkward just sitting there. He wondered if he should go or not. What did people do in this type of thing?

While Maxim was practicing writing some Russian letters Bucky spoke up. "Should I go or stay or..."

Maxim looked up at Bucky but went back to writing. Bucky could tell he was trying to concentrate by his tongue sticking out one side. He does that when he is focused.

"It isn't necessary for you to be here and we will be a while." Mrs. Eve says. "If you would like to go and do something else you can. It's up to you."

Bucky started to get up, but then Maxim noticed he was leaving. One look from Maxim's panicked expression made Bucky sit back down. (I'll stay.) Maxim stared at him as if he didn't believe him before going back to writing Russian letters. Mrs. Eve smiled at the two.