Aaand more depressing stuff, but sandwiched in between a little bit of fluff. Chapters 12 and 13 are definitely full of feels, too, and though I haven't started 14, it's pretty much guaranteed to be the same due to the prompt ('torture', for which I have so much material to work with).
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of the characters contained therein.
WORD COUNT: 1724
It wasn't something he was comfortable with saying aloud, but it was a known fact that Bucky Barnes hated being cold, mainly because he was pretty much always cold, and making it worse was not good for his mental state. Memories of being put in and out of cryo-freeze set him on edge, and made him more vulnerable to a panic attack or a violent outburst. Or both.
Once Steve realised that, it was only a matter of time before their shared apartment was inundated with blankets of every description and the thermostat jacked up several degrees warmer than the rest of the Avengers Compound.
And since Christmas was coming up, Pepper decided to treat everyone with '12 Days of Christmas Sweaters', gifting him with the softest, warmest sweaters he'd ever touched, let alone owned, without singling him out.
Darcy did something similar, presenting them all with hand-knitted scarves, mittens, and hats, each one coloured and patterned to match their Avenger alter-egos (Jane's and Pepper's matched Thor's and Tony's, respectively). And while Bucky wasn't an official Avenger, yet, he still got a set that seemed to be patterned after both his Winter Soldier gear and his blue Howling Commandos uniform, blending both parts of his past into something new (which did later inspire a few ideas about a new uniform). After Clint and Laura sent a photo of the entire Barton clan in their own Christmas sweaters and matching woolen purple accessories, the whole team took a group photo in their own – some more enthusiastic about it than others – and Darcy put it on the Avengers' official social media pages.
(Scott, who was spending Christmas in San Francisco, sent a similar picture not long after.)
The massive blizzard a month later caught them all by surprise. Bucky and Darcy hadn't actually been on base at the time. Darcy, in an attempt to maintain some semblance of normalcy in her life on the compound, had signed up to be on the rotating roster of personnel assigned to do grocery runs. And today it was her turn, and Bucky had volunteered to help her. It was the first time he'd left the facility since they'd finally gotten the charges against him dropped, which meant that this was the first time he could leave without fear of being arrested. He still opted to go low-profile, with a ball cap, a hooded sweatshirt (sunglasses looked way too out of place this time of year), and the skin-tone cover that had been created to hide his metal arm. After all, HYDRA was still very much a threat, and the sight of any one of the Avengers –including himself – out in public was still liable to cause a miniature riot.
His disguise was good enough that no one gave him a second glance as he followed Darcy around the supermarket, pulling items off the high shelf ("Why is it that more than half the stuff we need is always on the top shelf and out of my reach?" Darcy groused, "I swear, either the store staff or the people who put together this damn list are doing it on purpose!") and helping carry the heavier ones. Even though grocery runs were done every other day, they had a lot of people to feed, so they approached the checkouts with two overflowing shopping carts. It was something that should have attracted attention, but no one seemed to be bothered.
Well, the cashier checking them out seemed to have noticed, along with most of the other staff members. Bucky supposed it didn't take a lot of intelligence to put two and two together when someone came through every other day with an obscene amount of groceries and a Stark Industries credit card. This particular cashier knew Darcy by name, and his eyes widened the first time he got a look at Bucky's face. To his credit, though, he only smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, and thanked Bucky for his service as he handed over the (very long) receipt.
The snow was already coming down pretty hard when they exited the store and loaded all the food into the non-descript black van. They considered finding someplace to spend the night, but figured they would have enough time to get back to the compound before it really got bad.
They were wrong. About halfway back, they got stuck in the snow for a third time, and this time Bucky wasn't able to push the van free. Darcy managed to call Steve on her StarkPhone, but he told her that, since Tony, Rhodey, and Thor (the most likely to be able to reach them in this mess) were in Malibu, DC, and Asgard, respectively, they'd have to wait it out until someone came to pick them up. Well, actually, Steve told them to wait for the Quinjet to pick them up, only for Natasha to interrupt and tell him that the Quinjets weren't equipped for flying in a storm of that magnitude.
So there they were, stuck in a van stuffed with food, sitting in the middle of the road in a huge snowstorm. "At least we aren't likely to starve," Darcy joked weakly as she tugged her blanket out of the emergency kit.
To keep the interior of the van warm, they would repeatedly re-start the engine, shutting it down when it got to a semi-comfortable temperature, in an effort to save fuel (the perishable food they'd bought were probably doomed, but it was them or Bucky and Darcy). Occasionally, Bucky had to get out and clear snow off the tailpipe, otherwise the carbon monoxide fumes would get backed up and fill the vehicle and kill them.
The third time he got back in, his lips were tinged with blue, and his whole body was visibly shaking. The engine was still off, and he fumbled with the key before finally getting a grip on it and twisting it, starting the car again. Darcy was getting really concerned, now. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked softly, "I could go out next time."
It took her a second to realise that he was shaking his head 'no', since it wasn't much different from the shaking that was already happening. "Don't want you going out in that."
"Says the guy who's just a few degrees away from getting frozen solid – again!" Feeling bold, she reached across his body and grabbed his right hand where it was gripping his left upper arm (could she say 'left bicep' when he technically didn't have that muscle anymore?). "Can you even feel me doing this?!"
"…Yes?"
"You're lying. Let me do the next one, at least."
He didn't exactly agree, but when the time came to climb out and wipe snow off the tailpipe, she jumped out before he could get a firm grip on the door handle on his side. Darcy was shaking like a leaf when she got back in, but she shot him a grin and a thumbs-up when he glared at her. He fumbled for the key, and this time his fingers were actually able to get a grip on the key much more quickly. But when he turned it all the way, the starter only sputtered, and there was no satisfying roar of the engine afterwards.
Two sets of eyes met, widened in fear.
"Shit."
Less than half an hour later, any trace of heat from the engine had long since dissipated, and both Darcy and Bucky were shivering like mad in their seats. "D-d-doll?" Bucky asked, "Y-you still wi-with me?"
"Hmm?"
"Darcy!"
"M'awake!" Darcy jerked in her seat, blinking rapidly. "I'm awake!"
Bucky blinked, trying to stay awake, himself. "We've got t-t-t-to fin- to find a way to stay war-warm, somehow," he growled, "Th-thi- th-this isn't w-w-w-wo-working."
"No sh-sh-shit."
He fumbled with the zipper of his coat with his right hand, before switching to and having much better luck with his metal hand, which didn't seem to be as affected by the cold as the rest of him. "G-get over here."
"What?"
He got the jacket open and beckoned her over. "We'll last l-longer if we-" He swallowed. "If we h-hud-huddle together. Sh-sharing body heat, a-a-and all that."
In other circumstances, Darcy would have balked at the idea. However, there were two circumstances that squashed down any desire to do so. The first was that she was fucking freezing. The second was that she was being offered life-saving snuggles by Bucky Freakin' Barnes, the Howling Commando she'd been crushing on since middle school.
So she scooted closer to him, letting him slip his arm and his blanket over her shoulders and pull her as close as he could with the seat divider in between them. After a few minutes, however, she growled and shook her head. "This isn't enough," she said, "Lift the steering wheel."
"What?"
"Just do it."
As he re-adjusted the wheel, she awkwardly climbed over the divider and settled in his lap, just barely fitting her legs in there. Then she wrapped both arms around his torso, bringing her blanket along with her. After several long seconds of hesitation, he did the same, completely cocooning them in his blanket.
Bucky woke up in the Avengers' Infirmary roughly twenty-four hours later. Apparently, Steve had sent out a Quinjet to pick up him and Darcy as soon as the weather conditions were deemed safe enough. He and Barton had found him and Darcy both unconscious, clinging to each other in the driver's seat. Both had been suffering from severe hypothermia, and even upon waking, Bucky still found himself shaking from the cold.
Darcy took longer to wake up, but when she did, in the middle of the night, she shook and shivered until she finally gave up and climbed into his bed. "Can't get warm," she offered as an excuse, "Budge over."
He smirked and did as he was told, pulling her close again.
Tomorrow's chapter prompt: Electrocution. Given the characters, there were two obvious ways I could have gone with this prompt – try and guess which two (and which one I went with).