Mosaic

by FlyingRedPanda

(Bucky/OC, Winter Soldier x OC) "The broken pieces… take the ones you do have, the ones you'll find, the ones you'll make and build something… build someone, who you could live with." A story about two people and their interactions with each other, the people they come across, and the world around them. All while being hunted by friend and foe alike. (Re-editing, still posting new)

5. Valeriy Ayers - Soggy Spaghetti

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(Edited 2018 11 09)

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Chapter 5: Valeriy Ayers - Soggy Spaghetti

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Rolling away from the stream of sunlight, I sighed heavily. I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.

"What time is it?" I asked, pulling on a large shirt and wiggling into a pair of shorts.

"It's around noon. Mr. Barnes finally decided to settle down. Spent hours asking questions since you went to sleep."

"Oh?" I hummed, crawling out of bed and hobbling to the bathroom to clean up for the day.

"Asked about a bunch of the stuff in the kitchen and food. Left him with the laptop and he's been looking into hauntings and poltergeister."

"Holy fuck! Eve, is this house haunted?!"

"Not that I know of. There's no bad history. Haven't brought anything funky into the house. Never saw or heard anything in the in the nine years I've had this place. Anything else that makes a place haunted?"

"I don't know. Shit luck and or a burial ground? You're the one who's connected to the internet."

"He probably thinks I'm a ghost still. Briefly searched up artificial intelligence before all this paranormal research."

"Wouldn't blame him. Even Amber and Devon were unsettled when they first went into one of our houses. Yo, you got any crutches here? This hopping hurts…."

And it was extremely slow for how much energy it uses.

"That's what I've been forgetting. I'll arrange for it to be delivered."

"…Did you put him up to befriending me?" I finally asked, before shoving the toothbrush around in my mouth.

"If I were the type to force people befriend you, you'd have a lot more friends, and you'd be better protected. I only set up things to place him at the park and hoped for the best…. He knew less than you did about the kidnapping…."

I had my suspicions, and if I hadn't become so paranoid over the years, I'd have no idea.

"I honestly rather you have not befriended the man. He's dangerous. The people after him are infinitely worse. Everyone is after him. Lucky for him, most of them are scrambling to get an idea of the Winter Soldier's identity. You do not want to get involved with the people who had him for the last seventy years. They're not above coming after you to get to him."

I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed my mouth. "What's new? There are already people after me."

"They're dangerous, Val."

"…Can you keep them away from him?"

"…Valeriy."

"Eve. Are you able to keep him safe on your own?"

"Yes. Of course. But it wouldn't be without incident, and I'm not putting my people at risk for him. With his arm fixed, he'll be able to protect himself. The fact that he doesn't want to kill… it puts him at a disadvantage. Those people would stop at nothing to get him. He's too useful."

His arm would be fixed far faster if Gramps was the one wielding the tools. That is if the old man would just fix the arm and not spend the rest of his life trying to make the ultimate Swiss Army knife of an arm. Though with that drive, we'd probably solve a lot of the technical problems with the cybernetic project.

"How safe would it be to travel with him?"

Eve's exaggerated sigh echoed off cold bathroom tiles. "If he cooperates, it's simple enough for me to move him if need be. You on the other hand, you're not going anywhere. I haven't figured out how to move you. Jekyll is still after you."

"Great. All this just because of Wegner is a tad extreme."

I did poach the man from Jekyll, so I expected a little backlash. But not a full on kidnapping with teams of people.

With a huff, I dried my face and hopped for the door.

"…I haven't figure out what's happening with the information I could gather, but they do believe you're out of town as of two days ago. So you'll be alright here, for a while. I've informed your parents of the events, and that you'll call them when it's safe to do so."

"How much time do you think you can buy me?"

"At the most, a couple of days more."

"Wegner's still on board?"

"Yes."

So that was one less thing on my plate.

"'Kay. I'll call them when I'm ready."

Which might as well be never.

The bedroom door could not be any farther away. I swear a snail could beat me to it at this pace of hopping.

'Ah, fuck it.'

I dropped onto my hands and knees. At least crawling turned out to be less painful, and probably faster.

"I'm sorry, Val. I promised to protect you… and I couldn't…."

'That's out of the blue.'

I couldn't help the sigh. I had no idea why Eve took it upon herself. But she did.

"It's fine, Eve. I'm here now. Safe. Can't blame yourself for the shit I get myself into. I know you do your best to protect me, and it's not an easy job dealing with this family."

I stopped outside of the room my housemate had taken up.

"He's still awake."

"Bloody hell, Eve. I grew up being watched by you all my life, well most of my life…. But I hear most people aren't used to that. Or comfortable with it. Give him a little space."

I knocked on the only closed door of this hallway. More than likely, he was on the other side.

"Hey, Buddy. Have you eaten yet?"

Silence.

Maybe he was one of those blessed people who zonked right out the moment their head touched the pillow.

"No…."

Or not.

"Do you want to sleep or join me for lunch? I'll cook," I offered.

I sat down against the door. It was probably going to take some time to get another answer. Unless he shrugged.

Laughter suddenly blared at my ears, echoing through the house. "Cook? You're going to cook? Have you ever touched a pot?"

A frown pulled at the corners of my lips. "Dude… Home Ec. was mandatory first year of high school…."

"I saw. It was an utter disaster."

She had me there. More pancakes ended up on the floor than anything else. It was a joke that we passed that course.

"But we passed."

"Fine, just don't burn down my house. I'll go figure out what you can make with what we do have."

"Shit!"

Flailing arms did nothing to keep my balance, and in hindsight, I could see why leaning on a door wasn't one of my smartest ideas.

The large man stood there, frozen, hand still on the doorknob. The confusion on his face was hilarious. One brow furrowed. His frown grew, but mostly he stayed frozen next to the now opened door.

I guess he decided to eat.

A nervous giggle escaped me. "Hi," I chirped, handing giving a small wave.

He did wave back. Sort of. More stiff and confused than an actual wave.

He was still wearing long sleeves. Even had a glove on his cybernetic. He clearly wasn't comfortable with it. Couldn't blame him for that.

Or could it be that most people would know he's the Winter Soldier at a glimpse of that arm? There was footage of him in the news. Some blurry cellphone footage. Though, it was mainly overshadowed by the whole shit storm with the Helicarriers.

With a swing of my arms, I sat up and crawled for the steps.

He silently followed along. There was no thump to his footsteps. If I didn't turn around to go down the steps backwards, I would have forgotten he was even there.

Carpeted stairs were a blessing, especially when crawling on it.

"Think you can handle making spaghetti?"

"Please tell me it's the thing." Reaching up for the countertop, I used it to haul myself up onto my feet.

"Of course it's angel hair. Who do you think I am? The video's pulled up for you. Good luck cooking." With that, Eve started the YouTube video on the splashboard.

After watching the barely two minute long clip, I shrugged. It looked simple enough.

What could possibly go wrong?

Probably going to spill the pasta all over the floor….

"Mind being my legs, Buhh-Buddy?"

Surprise took over those sharp features of his. It didn't stay long. With determination set in his jaw, he gave a single nod.

A grin pulled at my face. I could have worded the question better. "You find the pasta? I'll get the water boiled."

With that, Eve opened the pantry door and a drawer of pots. Her voice echoed on the speaker as she helped with the search. The video started up again, this time next to the sink.

Hopping with a pot full of water was interesting. Couldn't wait to try it when it's boiling.

I couldn't help the laugh when Eve decided to play a clip of how to turn on the induction stove. It was two extremely self-explanatory buttons.

"I'm pretty sure I know what the power button looks like, Eve."

"Yeah. But the ventilation would be a wise idea." The video voice faded behind the roaring from above me.

A yelp and an involuntary flinch later, I was taking the box of angel hair from my friend. Automatically, a smile slapped itself in place, an attempt to put that furrowed brow at ease.

"You move like a ninja."

"Sorry," he mumbled, staring at his sock covered feet and toeing the tiles. Very reminiscent of a scolded child, even though there was no scolding going on and he was much too tall.

"Aw, that's fine, Buddy. I scare super easily. My brother has a ball with that," I joked, pouring in the olive oil as the video said. Hopefully that was enough.

"Brother?"

"Mhmm." I nodded. "I got one older brother. We're thick as thieves."

His lips skewed a tad before he chewed on the bottom lip. Brows furrowed in thought. He was so confused.

I had to wonder if he remembered he was the eldest brother in his family in another era.

Almost nothing like the young man in Gramps' stories….

Glad I listened to them.

Most of them were focused on Bucky Barnes. The Bucky Barnes before a certain train ride.

It's jarring, the difference between them. Heartbreaking. But even so, there's enough that he didn't play a bystander.

Still a hero.

I chuckled softly, shaking my head. "This would be the last place I would want my brother to be. I don't want anything to happen to him."

The chewing of his lip stopped, but there was still a giant question mark practically stamped on his face. Probably a different question.

"Are you able to read my mind? Like…" his words faded as his eyes scanned the ceiling.

I couldn't help the laughter that spewed out of me. "Hahaha! S-sorry! Hahahaha! Eve and I can't read minds."

"Then how do you know what I'm thinking…?"

A grin threatened to split my face in half. My cheeks were getting sore. "We don't know what you're thinking, but we're not half bad at guessing? And you're rather… expressive."

That surprised him.

Guess he didn't know?

With the beard gone, it's even easier to read what was written on his face.

Oh how I wish I could see the face he made when I joked about having six toes. That was priceless.

Going back to the cooking at hand, I dumped the pasta into the bubbling pot and searched for tongs. Eve opened a drawer of utensils. No tongs, but chopsticks were close enough. A flick of the wrist and all of the pasta was submerged, just as instructed.

A timer replaced the video clip.

"Thanks Eve."

Always on her A game.

There was concern etched onto his handsome face. "Isn't he worried about you?" he finally asked.

He looked so much younger without the full beard, but those eyes. Those haunted blue eyes showed of unspoken horrors they've seen.

"I doubt he knows?" I replied. "And there's nothing he can do either. So why bother him about it? All this, it isn't something new to us. We've all gone through it before."

"You've been kidnapped. You mentioned it that night."

I shrugged out a nod. "Yeah…. Twice."

"I'm good at my job. Though defence is a hard game to play. There are always holes, and only one needs to be found for it to fall apart. Or there are times when I'm out of moves to make. Or there are variables I can't predict or account for. You were one of them, Mr. Barnes. If you hadn't stepped in, that would have been the fourth successful kidnapping of Valeriy Ayers."

"Ehhh? Was that really a kidnapping though?" I questioned, setting up the strainer over the sink.

I had no idea what to label that part of my life. The one Eve wanted to count as the third kidnapping. It was a few years ago, and I rather not think about it.

"Okay. Held hostage then."

"Not quite…? We've been in stupid hostage situations before. Like when some idiot sent us a bomb of all things…. Fun."

Eve sighed heavily. "Fine, we'll just agree that you were held against your will, and that was far worse than the actual kidnappings."

I tried to shrug off the words, and maybe moving to the sink with the boiling pot of water while distracted was one of my dumber ideas. As well as leaving a puddle of water in the middle of the kitchen.

Luckily for me, there was a ninja in the house.

"Thanks, Bu-Buddy."

Body heat rolled off of him in waves. I could feel it in the space between us. He towered over me from behind, and his shadow swallowed the light from the ceiling bulbs.

His hands kept a grip on my elbows, letting me use him for balance. He didn't push or pull on my arms. Just gently nudged me over to the sink from behind me.

It was amazing. The strength and control he had at his fingertips. They were steady, subtly counteracting my off balance swaying. His grip was firm but never tight enough to come close to even hurting. How he managed such an intricate feat with his cybernetic arm, be it his control over the technology or the technology itself, it was utterly impressive.

But in the middle of straining the pot, his metal arm twitched violently and shoved my left hand under the stream of recently boiling water. All while my fingers twitched from the electricity flooded through my muscles.

The warmth behind me disappeared within a blink.

"I'm sorry," he barely breathed out. "I – I…"

"It's fine, Buddy. Don't worry about it," I waved off, feeling the burning throb to the now dark pink skin on my hand.

I quickly turned on the cold water and shoved my hand under the flow. I made sure to send him a smile over my shoulder.

Nothing to worry about, and part of me was glad that it took a while to actually get to the sink. Let the water have a chance to cool a tad.

Nor could I blame him. Wasn't his fault that his arm wasn't working properly.

"Mr. Barnes!" Eve's voice shrieked.

I whirled around. Something had to be seriously wrong with –

"Holy fuck! Drop it! Why the flying fuck did you do that!?"

A knife clattered to the floor tiles from his hand.

"I… Urgh…!" He desperately clutched onto his thigh, his face skewing in agony. Blood quickly seeped through his fingers and into his jeans. "I don't… I don't know…."

The confusion in his eyes made it all the more worse. He had no idea why.

"Sit! Get that leg elevated above your heart! Eve! Tell me he didn't cut something important!" I scrambled for the roll of paper towels and threw it at him. "Keep pressure on it!"

My mind whirled through all random trivia I've accumulated over the years for something of use. With my own injured leg, I quickly swiped the kitchen knife across the room. Did not need to have a repeat.

"He missed it. Somehow…."

"Superglue!" I barked out, and I heard a drawer open in the formal dining room. "How safe is it!?" My left ankle screamed for me to stop moving, but who cares.

"It may cause irritation. Burns if you use too much."

"'Kay…?"

With a huff, I tossed out the contents off the drawer on the floor. I plucked the annoyingly packaged superglue and quickly hobbled back into the kitchen.

"Pantry. Bottom shelf to your right. Spirytus. 96%," Eve prompted.

The restocked first aid kit was too far away.

It was buried behind a couple of bottles, but at least it was far better than pouring sticky Kahlua in the wounds.

Grabbing the knife off the floor, I started on trying to fight the plastic package of the superglue.

"Oh that is not what kitchen knives are used for, Val…. Do you have any idea how expensive those are?"

Ignoring Eve and dropping down next to the pool of blood, I waved his hands away and cut the denim of his pants to get a better look.

'Nope. I still can't handle large cuts.'

Shaking away the need to hurl, I blindly groped for a cork mat while my other hand worked the Spirytus cap off.

"Bite. It's going to hurt. Sorry, Buddy."

Those blue eyes were dead set on mine. Made me feel an anchor in his sea of pain. But when the alcohol drenched his leg, he couldn't help the scream that escaped him.

Luckily, he didn't try to fight me off or move much at all as I got to work with the superglue. A few drops down the length. Squeeze closed. Hold for…

"How long do I hold this for?"

"Directions says thirty seconds."

As my mind settled down, I looked up from the bloody mess. The man in front of me was so torn. The emotional whirlwind in those blue eyes was heart wrenching.

His slowly released the cork mat when I took hold of it. His shoulders heaved with every trembling breath he took.

"What was that about?" I asked softly, releasing his thigh and frowning.

I needed another round to deal with the top edge. Just a couple of drops should seal it all up.

He turned away, probably staring at something unseen. "I… I hurt you…. I had to… I had to…."

'Wow. That systematic programming.'

He was obedient to a T. It didn't matter if he was in pain, he did exactly as I ordered in the mess moments ago.

'I wonder….' Squeezing his cut shut again, I mulled over my words. "Look at me."

That confirmed his obedience.

"Don't ever do that again. I don't care if you go into a crowd guns a blazing or even deep fry me in a vat of oil. Do not harm yourself. Understood?"

He nodded carefully.

"Repeat it."

"I will not harm myself," he half mumbled.

It was better than nothing.

"Good." I offered a friendly grin, trying to lighten things up. If only by a pinch.

Or maybe even get some life back into that eerily blank face. Superglue wasn't supposed to numb the pain, so he shouldn't be so blank.

Then confusion set on his sweaty brow. "…Why would I deep fry you…?"

I shrugged with a chuckle. "Just popped into my head and it sounded like a pretty painful way to go. But seriously, don't cut yourself up like this."

His eyes dropped and nodded again. "It was… instinct."

"Shitty instincts for a fighter," I grumbled, releasing the cut again and nodding at the work.

It was sealed. Pouring some vodka onto a pile of neatly folded paper towels, I gingerly cleaned the blood off his skin.

"And I doubt it's instincts, Buddy. It's more like something ingrained into you. Through repetition… probably."

When I got to work on the bloody floor, his right hand reached across his body and grabbed onto mine.

"Let me," he insisted.

Didn't seem like he wanted to use his left arm for more reasons than just that it hurt him.

"Good. 'Cause this idiot would do a shitty cosmetic job of it. The cola's in the pantry."

"Hey," I huffed, even putting on a pout. "Should you be on that leg already?"

"It's mission operational," he answered rather devoid of emotions, walking into the pantry. Not a limp in sight.

'Did they fry his nerves? No, his arm still bothers him, and he was screaming just now….' I sighed a little, knowing what it probably was.

Weakness was unacceptable.

"Trained not to limp as well?" When the words left my mouth, I couldn't help feeling glad my parents weren't here.

That mask of perfection was nothing but suffocating and at times painful when five inch heels were paired with a sprained ankle.

"What?" a muffled word from the pantry.

Even so, it was gruffer than his usual husky tone. Slightly strained. I doubt it was my place to tell him that he could drop the training, which was probably seared into that built body of his.

"Leave the cleanup for later. We should get this blood off us before we eat?"

The pasta should be okay to last through a quick shower, right?

'Now to figure out how to get upstairs without leaving a bloody trail….'

Eve would have my head if I did. There were already red footprints leading into the pantry, and I was sitting in a pool of it. Crawling was not an option.

"It's good to see your brain working properly again. I can't believe you tried your hand at suturing with how out of it you were."

I couldn't help the jump when the snap and fizzle of a pop can opening hit my ears from directly behind me. He spilled it into the pool and washed off his feet as well.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said after a moment of silence.

"It's okay. I learned a couple of things about superglue today. Huh? What are you –? Oof…. Buddy?"

Again, I found myself slung over his shoulder while he was injured and hauled about like a sack of potatoes. But it did solve my problem of getting to the shower without Eve screaming about the carpeting.

Even with a cut leg, he was absolutely steady on his feet. His shoulders swaggering with his strides. With surprising ease, the one armed lowered me onto the cold tiles.

"I'll change the compress later." With that, he left me sitting in the master bathroom shower.

The moment the door shut behind him, the shower ran.

"FUCK! EVE! YOU – YOU ASSHOLE! IT'S FREEZING!"

Scrambling out of the stream, I curled up in the corner to get away from the cold spray. Everything was just stupidly cold. I didn't need the shock to the system right now.

"How are you holding up, Val? I know how uncomfortable you are around cuts like that one."

"I don't want to talk about that time, Eve. Drop it," I snapped, peeling off the sopping wet clothes and tossing them in the opposite corner. Watching the water run from red to pink, I took a few deep breaths to calm the twisting knot in my gut. "I'll be fine. As always."

Feeling the water turn hot, I pulled myself underneath and let it just sear off all the unpleasantness. All the tension in my muscles. All the unease in my stomach.

"This temperature is honestly bad for your singed arm."

I groaned at the lukewarm water that now made my shower. So gross on my skin. I'd prefer the freezing after over this. But the stinging in my arm did stop. Quickly cleaning up, I crawled about the room, searching for something to wear.

"Hey Eve? What are we having the pasta with?"

"There's a jar of tomato sauce you can heat up in a pan and mix with the angel hair."

"By the way, who drinks 96% vodka?"

"Sparks enjoys mixing it."

Haven't seen that woman for some time. The timing was almost laughable since she was the one who picked me up after the second kidnapping. Wouldn't be surprised if the woman could handle her hard liquor.

"I keep some around for the houses she stays at."

"How is she? It's been long."

"She is doing fine. Still one of my top people."

"She's not the top anymore?"

"Someone popped up as competition."

'Huh…. A new puppet joins the ranks.'

One I haven't heard of yet….

"How are you feeling, Buddy?" I asked when I spotted him mopping up the cola blood mix.

The young man was dripping with water. His clothing had been changed. At least he wasn't down here cleaning the whole time.

As per usual, he shrugged. "You?"

"Peachy." Popping into the pantry, I grabbed a jar of red pasta sauce and returned to cooking. "Could you set the table when you're finished? I'm going to deal with the pasta."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Silence consumed the two of us. The kitchen got cleaned. The pasta got served. It still stayed for most of the meal.

Eve wasn't too wrong about my cooking skills. As plain and simple this dish looked like, we were munching on soggy angel hair.

The ex-soldier didn't seem to care, finishing rather quickly. I had to wonder what they fed the guy. Hopefully, it was something edible. Unlikely that it'd be something yummy. He was their weapon as he put it. They'd probably use some care to keep him healthy, even if they taught him to cut himself up as punishment.

"Who are you?" he asked, pushing his plate away.

"Me?"

With all he's seen, couldn't say I wasn't expecting this question.

He nodded, motioning to the space around us. "All this. Safehouses. Being kidnapped."

"Remember, Val. He doesn't remember much before a couple months ago."

"Uhhh…. Well then… where do I even start? I guess the family? Since I'm just a pawn…. Ummm…. Oh! Gramps branched off and started small tech company about 50 ish years ago?"

"54 years."

"He's been inventing stuff for longer. Then about 30 ish years ago? Father took it big with Mother as his right hand and now we're the Ayers Corp, which happens to be one of the biggest privately owned corporations in the world.

"I believe? We're still most famous for our security and… life improvement technologies? I don't know what to call that…. Um, stuff that makes daily life simpler? This house would go under that. With how Eve controls a bunch of things. Though what's mostly on the market isn't as advanced as this. Still some kinks to work out. Mostly the price…."

He frowned heavily, his eyes dropping to his completely covered arm. "This… arm isn't like this house. It's not… simple."

"Quite agreed. This place is rather simple. But it blends in. That's what we need for a safehouse. This isn't what you should judge us by, Mr. Barnes."

"Your arm will be fixed. So where were we?" I asked, switching topics.

They didn't need to be bickering. Eve was Gramps' baby, and being in her house when she gets defensive, not pretty.

"You said you're a pawn."

"Huh? Oh yeah. I'm the useless Ayers daughter. Ain't one of the geniuses. But I'm okay at a few things? Cooking, clearly isn't one of them….

"The main thing my parents use me for is my face? Well my name actually…. I don't know why people think I have any sway in Ayers business, but they do. And so long as they do, I have use?

"I mostly show up at events in place of my parents or sign contracts in their stead. Something about putting the other party at ease that the Ayers are personally backing it. I'm not too sure. I just keep my head down and do what my parents tell me to. So basically, I'm just a pawn."

"Should you have told him all that?"

"I didn't say anything a google search wouldn't turn up. People just don't usually think it's me unless I'm all dolled up. Makes daily life simpler."

I shrugged my shoulder.

"Well except for the pawn thing… and it would majorly suck if he turned around and kidnapped me himself…."

"I-I wou… I…?" my friend started, but his words left him with a massive frown.

"I'm not worried about that," I grinned. "My gut isn't screaming at me to run for the hills. Besides, you could have easily could have mugged people for sandwiches… but you didn't."

He only frowned more. Not what I expected.

"Your arm will be fixed, Mr. Barnes," Eve cut in. "Even if I have to bring someone else in."

Though the someone may or may not turn in the young man for being the Winter Soldier. Or sell the information to whoever was after him.

"So please calm down."

One quick scan of the man in front of me, and it was easy to tell he was upset about something. But there was an awfully familiar bracelet on his wrist.

"Why the hell is he wearing one of my bloody monitors?" I demanded. "I told you to give him space. Not fucking tag him, Eve!"

"I like to keep my house in order. Can't blame me for that."

Suddenly he stood up. "Your ankle. I'll change the wrappings." He walked out of the room without a limp and I continued with my pasta.

"It's funny how the two of you don't even think about painkillers."

"Oh yeah, that's a thing…. Meh, I don't like it," I shrugged off in an attempt to shake of the unpleasant twist in my gut. "My brain gets sluggish, and I still have to figure out what to tell Mother and Father." Cupping a hand by my mouth, I yelled out, "Hey, Buddy! Do you want to use any painkillers!?"

Less than a second later, he was walking through the doorway…. I probably shouldn't have screamed.

"It doesn't work. My system burns right through it," he answered and kneeled at my side, gingerly taking my left leg and setting it on his good thigh.

"That sucks."

It really did. I had a choice. He didn't even if he wanted to.

It was surprising how gentle he was, with all those muscles. I could easily see them under the fabric of his shirt. Then again, the shirt wasn't exactly his size. I doubt there were many of Eve's Puppets who were this built.

When he calmed down a bit, I spoke up, "Thanks for doing this, Buddy."

"Bucky…" he corrected ever so softly, I almost missed it. "…My name… my name is… Bucky."

"Alright, Bucky," I grinned and he grunted in response. This was far better than a shrug and I no longer had to awkwardly cover my attempts to use his name.

Boy did my ankle hurt, the steady throbbing that matched my heartbeat. So to push it to the back of my mind, I attempted to wolf down my soggy spaghetti.

Bucky quietly worked away, wounding dry bandages around my ankle. He'd pause randomly waiting for his left hand to stop its spasms before continuing to wrap the bandages.

It wasn't until he was almost finished and I ate all I could stomach of my own cooking that an idea popped into my head.

"Bucky, do you want to talk to someone who knew you? Captain Steven Rogers. I'm sure Eve could find his numb – "

"No!"

He shot up onto his feet. His eyes widened wide in panic. He looked just about ready to dive through a window, backing away towards a corner.

"Okay! Okay! We won't contact him! Eve can you – "

"Yes, yes I can, and I shall. I'll do what I can to keep everyone away from you. He won't find you."

"Forget that I even asked, 'kay?"

Bucky tried to calm his panicked breathing, and with a single nod, he bolted upstairs.

"And I thought we were making such progress." Eve brought up a video on the glass of the dining table of how to wrap an ankle.

I got to work finishing the compress. "Is he alright?"

"He's not self-destructing, if that helps? And as much as you want to be friends with him, I rather you not."

"You rather a lot of things of me, Eve, and I'm not going to just turn my back on him n – "

"I get that he reminds you of – "

"Do not go there!"

"Can you live with it, Val? Can you live with Hydra coming after you if they link you to him? You'll be on the run for who knows how long. I can do my best to protect you then, but can you juggle your lives when you have no freedom left?"

"I'll manage. I've always managed and you've got my back, right?"

"To the best of my ability."

"I want to do this, Eve. If he wants the help, I'm here. I want to be friends with him. It's the only reason I'm willing to face those demons again. And I can't believe you're the one forcing me to open this fucking door again."

"Don't you miss it, Val?"

"Whatever," I huffed, blowing a lock of hair out of my face. "Besides, it's up to him at the end of the day. I can't make him stay, and I doubt you could make him leave."

"Not with you backing him, and I need him to protect you for now."

"Can't call any of your Puppets?"

"No…. They're all busy with… other things."

"I hate that we're using him. Going by what he said, he's been used more than enough."

Rage was slowly burning through my veins at the idea of somebody forced to do things they never wanted to. It reminded me of things I wished to forget.

"Would you rather Jekyll get to you?"

"…" I secured the wrapping and shrugged. "I don't know, Eve. He has enough on his plate. I'm just a spoiled little brat."

"No, you're a girl who's turned away from who you really are."

"You're looking for something that's not there anymore, Eve."

I knew she blamed herself for those events. It was an old wound we'd pick into at each other to shut the other up. It was sickening every time it was brought up.

'I don't know why you blame yourself for them…. You were under orders.'

Silence.

Absolute silence between us.

It left a gaping hole inside.

I wanted to run away from all this. Be somebody else. But alas, no matter how hard I run, the one person I couldn't escape from was Valeriy Ayers.

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AN: Finally got to why Eve and Val seem to be able to read Bucky's mind. He has no idea that he wears his thoughts and emotions on his face. (He could probably carry half a conversation with his face alone. ^^ )