He felt the warm morning sun pouring through the large window and onto the back of his head. He could see it through his closed lids. It was still strange, waking up not shivering. He breathed in the light, clean scent of the bedding and curled tighter into its soft embrace. He heard... scratching? A pencil flitting against paper. Fragments of a memory collected and took shape...

He lay pretending to still be asleep, although he was pretty sure he'd heard the clock chime quarter past eleven. Sun streamed onto the bed and he foggily wondered to himself whether or not an extra, non-paid government-instituted Saturday just might be a splendid idea. Yeah. Definitely worth it. Saturdays were wonderful.

Skrch skrch skrch.

He lazily pried one eye open to take in the sight of his friend perched on a chair, balancing a pad of paper half his size over one knee and taking a visual measurement with his pencil.

"Steve... whu- Steve, are you DRAWING ME?"

"Last time I looked, your modeling contract hadn't expired yet."

"Steve, for crying- I'm not done SLEEPING yet."

"TSK, Buck! Now've you've rolled over and I haven't finished with this yet!"

"Finish this." A surprisingly well-aimed pillow knocked the pencil out of Steve's hand.

"Art ruiner."

"Sleep depriver." Geez, how early do artists need to get up on a Saturday?

As if Steve read his mind, "You know, if you're gonna spend the whole day in bed, the least you could do is make yourself useful."

"Heavenly DAYS, McGee," was Bucky's exasperated, muttered reply.

He lazily pried one eye open...

Skrch skrch skrch.

Steve's eyes rose from the small pad that he held on his lap, and appeared a bit startled to meet the gaze of Bucky's lone one.

"Hey. Oh I'm sorry, do you mind if I draw you? I was just bored- I can stop."

Captain America is bored? Oh right, former Captain America, war criminal exiled in a secret African nation. Well, then. Still, bored? Psht.

"No, 's fine. Glad you still do it." A pause. "Been awhile."

"You remember when I used to make you sit for me?"

"Sometimes you didn't even bother to make me." Bucky gestured observe with his one hand. He managed a laugh. "It's fine, it's fine."

Steve nodded, "You were a handy model. I mean, you sure fidgeted a heck of a lot, but hey, you were free."

"Hey now. I happen to remember I did an exceptionally fine job. But today I'll take my pay in breakfast."

"Not pancakes again."

Bucky grinned, flipped his blanket over his head, and rolled over.

"No fair, Buck. I haven't finished with this yet."


Author's note: Bucky's "Heavenly days" remark is in imitation of that which famously belonged to Molly of the "Fibber McGee and Molly", the comedy duo whose radio program ran from the 30s to the 50s. (Yes, the very one that Bucky mentions in the "Captain America: Super Soldier" video game.) I've always loved listening to tapes and CDs of comedy shows from that era (for the record I'm a 90s baby), and this one is one of my favorites. Really fun to listen to; they just don't do comedy like it anymore. Give a listen on Youtube or your favorite audio streaming application!