Chapter 10-Nightmares

Third Person:

Beni shot out of bed the minute she heard Bucky screaming. Out of instinct she grabbed her crutches and ran as best as she could to the stair, before attempting to run up them. Bucky had wanted to move upstairs after the fiasco of her accidentally walking in n him when he was in just a towel. If he lived upstairs that was less likely to happen. But he had looked down right beautiful.

Beni wasn't thinking aout that now, though. She was more worried about Bucky, and what caused him to scream. It was panicked and it left as quick as it came. She was worried as hell, and continued to climb as fast as she could so he could help Bucky. But she didn't realize the placing of her crutch on one of the steps and se ended up slipping and falling. She let out a string of curses when she started to get back up. But a pair of strong, mismatched hands hauled her to her foot before picking her up bridal style and carrying her back down the stairs. He set he down on the couch and left to go get her crutches, but Beni grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Nightmares had been common for Bucky. That's why he tried not to sleep for very long when he actually chose to lay down. But he had screamed, and that had woken Beni up. He felt a small twinge of guilt because of that, and it had only grown when she fell down the stairs trying to get to him. He hadn't wanted her to hurt herself more, so he carried her the rest of the way down. He almost missed her presence in his arms. She gave off natural body heat and it had felt nice against his bare chest.

He only wore shorts to sleep, and if he ever wanted to mix it up a bit, he put his hair in a messy ponytail and slept. Tonight, though, he left it down.

He had gone back to get Beni's crutches because he needed to clear his head for about five seconds, but she had grabbed his arm. Why had she grabbed his arm? They hardly ever made physical contact. Mostly it was when their hands brushed when handing something to one another, or the occasional playful shove from Beni. When he looked down at her all he could see on her face was worry. She tugged on his arm hard enough to pull him to the ground, and as he started getting back up, she shoved him down into a sitting position. Before he could even register what was happening, her hands were on his back, pressing down in certain parts.

"Talk to me," she said as she continued the back rub. Bucky tried loosening up the best he could, but he didn't answer. Not immediately, anyways. Instead, he sat there for a few minutes, unsure of what he should do or say. Should he tell her what his nightmare was about? Should he tell her how it made him feel? Or should he lie so he didn't make her worry? And when had he been worried about making her worried? When had he started feeling guilty every time he did so? Maybe he really was getting better...He thinks it's safe enough to say she's a friend that can be trusted now.

"I...It's nothing. Just a nightmare," he said, biting back a small wince as she dug her elbow into the spot in his back that's been hurting for days.

"Bullshit," she replied almost instantly. "If it was just a nightmare then you wouldn't have screamed like that. So why don't you quit blowing smoke up my ass and just talk. Despite the popular belief it is okay to not be okay."

She had switched to her commando voice for the last part, and the old, good soldier part of him had an urge to listen. So he did, and hell, maybe if he talked about it he would be able to remember more of the memory. He let out a long sigh and began rubbing the back of his neck, but Beni swatted his hand away and did it for him, so that all of his attention was on what he was going to tell her.

"I was on a train with my team. Somewhere in the mountains, but I'm not sure which ones. One of the guys from the dark side shot at my friend, so I grabbed his shield. He blasted again, and I ended up falling out of a hole in the side of the train car. A few seconds later the bad guy falls out and my friend...He reached for me, but the thing I was holding on to broke and I...I fell. I guess along the way my arm got ripped off. And then...Then I was being dragged. By who, I don't remember. I just...I just wish I did..."

Beni hadn't faltered once as he talked. That was the most he had ever spoken about his arm, and she was completely comfortable with it. She didn't spare a second glance most of the time, except for when she drew on it with a sharpie every now and again. And she could relate to the nightmares, and losing a limb. But she didn't care about her own nightmares. She only worried about Bucky at the moment.

"Does talking about it make you feel any better? I know it always does for me," she said, digging her palm into a spot two inches from where metal met flesh.

"Yeah, a little bit...Y-you get nightmares?" Bucky replied. Beni nodded and sighed as she dug the heel of her hand into Bucky's spine.

"Yeah. No one comes back from war uninjured. Doesn't matter what kind of war. I still have nightmares from before I even considered the army."

"About what?" Bucky winced at how well here hands were working the knots out.

"Well, my dad was a grade-A dick bag who drank. I went to school covered with bruises, but everyone knew I was a bit more of a tom boy than a girly girl so they didn't think much of it, I guess."

Bucky was silent as his hands closed to fists. Beni was cool. Why wouldn't they notice if she was hurt or not? She seemed like the type of person why was surrounded by friends all the time.

"Why didn't anyone notice?" He asked before he could stop himself, letting out a small sigh of relief as his back hurt much less. Beni shrugged.

"I wasn't exactly the popular kid in school. I was always fantasizing about reptiles, snakes mostly, and I had these huge glasses and dorky braces...I was an awkward child."

"I bet you would look good in braces and glasses," Bucky defended, a small smirk coming across his lips. Beni laughed loudly at that and stopped rubbing.

"There's an old box in the towel closet, go grab it."

Bucky didn't want her to stop, but nonetheless got up and did as he was asked. While she riffled through the box he went back to grab her fallen crutches, feeling really loose and just good in general. When he sat down on the couch, Beni was busy looking through a blue book that had a lot of pictures of people he would never dream of recognizing. She stopped on a few random pages here and there until she finally found the person she was looking for.

"This is my senior yearbook and that is me as a senior."

She pointed to a picture of a girl who had really bad acne and huge rimmed glasses smiling at the camera shyly with a mouth full of metal. She had the striped in her hair like she does now, but they were a bit thinner. He whistled.

"You were an awkwards child. How did that," he gestured to the picture, "Turn to this," he gestured to Beni. She laughed, taking no offense to the question at all.

"I joined the army."

"What happened to the glasses?"

"They're just reading glasses, and the reason I haven't worn them whenever I pick up a book now is because they're lost in one of the many boxes I have yet to look through."

"Why haven't you looked?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Just curious."

"Because I've either been to lazy or to busy. Going through some of these boxes is the last thing I want to do. That's why I put the one full of dude clothes in your room before you moved upstairs."

"About that...Beni, I wanna...I wanna say thanks. For taking me in, I mean."

"Well you did get hit by a car because of me, so it's no problem. Besides, you've been a great help. You keep me occupied and every now and again you do dishes. I like having you around, Rupunzel. I now declare you my Squishy-"

"-Squishy?"

"-And I am the only one allowed to call you that. Deal?"

"Deal. I guess...That sounds familiar. Where is it from?"

Beni's mouth dropped open as she stared at Bucky in complete shock. Then she closed it, getting a hard look on her face and in her eyes.

"How could you not...Go get some popcorn ready. I'll put the movie in."