Chapter 19-Feelings and Stuff

Third Person:

Bucky gasped as he woke up from another nightmare, biting down his scream so he didn't wake Beni up. That was the fourth night in a row, but he wasn't going to tell Beni that. That was instantly sealing his fate. He did not need an upset, angry Beni on his case. That would be worse than getting bad sleep.

So, like every other night that week, he stealthily made his way downstairs, using his Winter Soldier skills to help him get down the stairs and on the couch with no sound at all. And it worked, just like all the other nights he snuck downstairs, but this time was different.

Apparently Beni hadn't been getting great sleep, either. He knew she tried to hide her nightmares from him for the same reason he hid his from her. But this was ridiculous.

Beni was laying on the couch face down in piles and piles of paper, her sketch book on the ground next to her and her laptop in front of her face. She was drooling slightly as she slept, meaning she was dead to the world at the moment. He knew that she knew that he was a light sleeper most of the time, so she stopped being a light sleeper herself and became like this. He had those two sleep modes as well, but he hardly ever went dead to the world unless he knew Beni was refusing to sleep for another night.

Bucky cocked his head to the side and walked over. He knelt down next to her face. Her hair was tousled and she was drooling slightly. One hand was on her keyboard and the there was dangling off of the couch with a pencil in it. It hovered over her sketch book that was buried under other papers. He carefully took them out from under her hand without waking her up and looked at them.

They were all formulas. Most of them were crossed out or had a question mark inside of a parenthesis under or next to it. He didn't understand any of it. He had to admit that Beni was really smart. A certified genius in his opinion. He put the papers down on the coffee table and looked at her sketch book, flipping to the first page.

Thee was a drawing of a dog with his tongue sticking out, and it looked so real with the fur texture and shading she had put. He flipped the page to find a picture of a man he didn't know, but it looked good anyways. There were pictures of birds, lizards, snakes, and...

And him.

Those ones were the most detailed out of the rest. What should have bee complex lines for his jaw seemed simple. The only thing that made said lines complex was the shading. He had a tank top on in the picture, and his hair was in a ponytail. Everything had emotion-even his eyes. They seemed sad but hopeful, and he had the ghost of a smile on his lips. He flipped to the next one, and it was him from Beni's point of view. He was outside, and had a leather coat on. He was looking at her and smiling slightly, and the sun behind his head outlined all of his features despite the fact that they were kind of silhouetted. The next was a picture of just his arm and part of his shoulder, and with all of the detail, it looked like actual metal. The one after that one was a flower, just as detailed as the others, making its simplicity complex. It reminded him of other drawings he had seen, but he couldn't remember who had drawn them. He put that on the coffee table with the notes.

Then he picked up Beni's other hand and removed the laptop, shut it down after saving whatever she was working on, and closed it, setting it with the other stuff. Her other papers were either on top of her or crushed under her chest, and if he tried getting those papers then he would need a metal hand to go with his metal arm. But he got the ones that were on top of her just fine. Once he was done with that, he somehow managed to get Beni turned to her side, and he carefully picked her up. She sucked in a breathe and groaned slightly, mumbling into his am. He smirked and leaned down slightly.

"What was that?" he asked in an almost teasing tone. She mumbled it again, and he almost laughed as he carried her to her room.

"No, I won't do anything like that."

"It was a joke," she slurred. "Get a sense of humor."

"I will when you learn to sleep in a real bed."

"Like you're one to talk," She yawned and nuzzled into his arm again.

"Touché."

"I know."

Bucky rolled his eyes and opened her door with his foot before quietly walking in and putting her on the bed. She yawned and rolled over, and he pulled her blankets up to her chin as she curled into a ball. As she fell asleep again, Bucky couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth in his chest. Like he enjoyed taking care of people like this. Like it was habit, and he was just doing what came naturally, but with a different person who didn't have asthma or some new sickness every week. It was just a strong, independent woman with one leg who relied on him despite the fact that she could take care of herself for the most part. Bucky would proudly and gladly take on that responsibility.

He stayed there for a few more minutes before finally going back into the living room and organizing Beni's notes just the way she liked it. He learned a long time ago that she had a bad case of OCD, and tried to help her how he could so she didn't bother as much. Once that was done he leaned back on the couch and grabbed the remote.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep for the rest of the night.