"Never Have I Ever…" pt. 2.4
Chapter 6
Steve half woke a few times in the pre-dawn hours to find Bucky still sound asleep against him. He raised his hand at one point to rub at his chest where Bucky's hair was tickling him. Shifting a little, Steve used his fingers to pull the long strands back behind Bucky's neck, causing him to move against him as his fingers brushed the cheek resting against him.
Bucky moaned softly and wrapped his arm around Steve's torso as he leaned into him further. Steve smiled and draped his arm again across Bucky's back; his hand coming to rest on the top of Bucky's thigh. He dropped his head back, closed his eyes and sleep came to him again.
When Steve woke again the sun was shining through the windows behind him; nearly blinding him through his closed eyelids and making him want to squint even before he opened his eyes. He felt the weight of Bucky still leaning heavily against him and lifted his head from the back of the couch. His arm was still draped over Bucky's back and Steve looked down to see Bucky's hand resting on his bare abs. He was still wearing only his pajama bottoms and he felt a little awkward considering Barnes was still fully dressed in the same clothes since the events of the day before.
Steve yawned and blinked painfully against the bright light shining into the room. He reached his left hand up behind him and found the cord for the blinds. He fumbled with it until he found the wand and twisted it to close the blinds. He stopped them with just enough light coming through to keep the room from getting too dark. He dropped his hand back down to the arm of the couch and yawned again. He sat there with his eyes closed for another minute before raising both hands to rub his face. The action caused his shoulders to tighten and his arms to straighten, that action went right down his spine causing him to stretch, arching away from the back of the couch. None of that drastic motion disturbed Barnes in the slightest and Steve looked down at him, his right arm hovering over Bucky's shoulders.
Steve decided to wake him up and rubbed his hand against Bucky's arm. His friend stirred, but didn't actually wake up. He only adjusted his position; tightening his embrace and stretching his arm across Steve's belly. His muscles began to stretch as they too woke up and Bucky tilted his head back, lifting his face toward Steve's. His long hair fell against Steve's bared chest, his whiskers scraping lightly against him as he dragged his cheek against Steve's skin. Steve focused on the sensations caused by Bucky's movement against his skin and then pushed the thought aside.
He shook Bucky's arm lightly trying to wake him. Bucky groaned but didn't wake. Steve slowly sat forward, holding onto Bucky's arm so he wouldn't fall, but the drastic re-positioning worked to rouse his friend. Bucky opened his eyes and looked at Steve. Steve looked down to see those steel blue eyes looking up at him sleepily.
"Hey, buddy, time to get up," he told Barnes.
Bucky pushed away from him, trying to get his wits about him. He sat up slowly, his head falling forward, still too sleepy to want to be awake. He rubbed the heel of his hands into his eyes and looked around. "Not again," he ground out wearily. "Sorry about that," he told Steve.
Steve sat at the edge of the couch, looking at him. "Don't be," he told him. "At least you got some good sleep. I think you need that more than anything right now." He patted him on the back as Bucky sat forward on the edge of the couch. "Why don't you take a shower and get dressed," Steve mentioned to him, "then pack a bag." Bucky looked over at him with a confused expression. "We're going someplace else. We're getting out of here… just you and me," Steve told him. Bucky stared at him as his words sank in.
"Really?" Bucky asked.
"Yeah, really," Steve told him and grinned. "Go on," he urged, giving a squeeze to Bucky's shoulder. Barnes stood up and walked to the bathroom. "We'll have breakfast on the road, if that's okay with you."
"Yeah, it's okay," Bucky told him before closing the bathroom door.
As Bucky showered, Steve got dressed and called Natasha on his cell phone to let her know they'd be leaving for a while.
"I think that's a great idea," she told him. "I think getting away from here for a while will be good for both of you."
"Yeah, me too," he told her, "I should have listened to him the other day when he said he wanted to get away from here. I really need to listen to him more."
"I'll be right down," she told him. "I want to at least see you guys off."
"We'll be here," Steve told her with a smile then hung up and started packing his own bag.
When Bucky emerged from the steamy bathroom fully dressed Nat was standing in the kitchen, leaning against the island talking to Steve.
"Good morning," she greeted him with a smile.
"Morning," Bucky replied with a small grin and went into his room to pack a bag.
"Are you two going to be okay?" she asked Steve while they had a few minutes alone.
Steve nodded and drained his coffee mug. "Honestly, I think we'll be more than okay," he told her." Bucky asked me the other night why we couldn't go somewhere else, just the two of us. I waved off his request with barely a thought… thinking the best thing for him was to be here learning how to get along with others on a social level." Steve walked to the sink to rinse his mug. "He's not ready. He went from isolation at Hydra, to isolation at the psyche hospital, to the Avengers Tower surrounded by a lot of really strong personalities. He hasn't had any real down time; no real privacy. No chance to find some real peace. I'm going to take him some place where he can find that. Some place where he can work it all out in his head at his own pace."
Natasha nodded. "Just stay in touch, okay? Don't make me worry or I'll have no choice but to come looking for you."
Steve smiled at her and handed her a note. Natasha looked at it and saw an address there. She looked back at Steve raising an eyebrow.
"It's my cabin," he told her, "in the Catskills."
"I didn't know you had a cabin," she said.
"I bought it when I needed a getaway… a couple of years after I got thawed out. Things would get overwhelming and I just needed to get away and find some peace. I realized last night that it's Bucky's turn."
"Where did you get the money to buy a cabin?" she asked.
Steve smiled. "Sixty-five years of back pay," he told her.
Natasha smiled, nodded and pocketed the note as Bucky came out of his room with a duffle bag. He dropped it on the floor next to the door and donned his brown jacket and blue baseball cap.
"I guess we're ready to roll," Steve said with a smile. He dropped a soft kiss on Nat's cheek and picked up his own bag from the kitchen table.
"I guess so," she replied with a smile. She walked over to Bucky and gave him a smile. "Be safe," she told him and he nodded. She put her hands on his shoulders and stretched up to give him a kiss on the cheek. Bucky leaned down slightly to accept it and gave her a smile.
As Steve walked toward them, Nat opened the door and Bucky picked up his bag. He gave her another grin and exited and Nat followed. Steve stepped out behind Natasha and paused long enough to give her a kiss on the cheek. He pulled the door closed and smiled at her. "Thanks for everything," he said and then followed Bucky down the hall.
Nat watched them entering the stairwell at the end of the hall before heading out to find Clint.
They'd been on the road for about an hour headed north on Rt. 32, following the Hudson River Valley, when Steve realized he was hungry. He glanced over to Bucky who was quietly watching the landscape going by outside the window.
"I'm starving, are you hungry?" he asked, glancing at Barnes as he waited for an answer. He noted the silent nod he received and grinned. "Do you want to stop at a diner for a real breakfast or -–," Steve paused when Bucky turned to look at him with an almost panicked expression. He was shaking his head no. "Okay," Steve told him, "no problem. I'm not really in the mood to deal with the public either. How about we just pull into a rest stop and grab a box of donuts or an egg sandwich "to go"?"
Bucky's expression relaxed a little and he nodded. "Yeah… that," he said.
"Okay then," Steve said with a smile, "we have a plan."
About fifteen minutes later he steered the car into a rest area that contained a gas station and a small building that housed a garage, in case of needed repairs, and a small convenience-type store that offered all sorts of options for purchasing.
"You want to come in?" Steve asked, and received another head shake. "Okay, I'll be right back."
Steve wasn't gone long and when he exited the store he had a small bag and a box of donuts in one hand and a cardboard tray containing two cups of coffee with lids in the other.
He walked toward the car and tilted his head, noticing the passenger seat was empty. He looked right and saw a coach bus off-loading its passengers and a dozen other people coming or going between their vehicles and the store. He looked to his left and saw Bucky sitting on top of a picnic table further away from the congestion of travelers.
Steve walked over to him and smiled when Bucky turned to look at him. He offered the box of donuts and Barnes relieved him of it. Steve set the tray of coffees on the table and opened the bag to retrieve a bacon and egg sandwich.
"We should be there in about forty-five minutes," he mentioned and Bucky looked at him with a smile then flipped open the lid on the box of donuts.
He didn't even get a chance to see what the choices were before he was suddenly set upon by a flock of greedy seagulls. Steve flinched and jumped away from the table in surprise only to see what looked like dozens of seagulls now swarming around Bucky sitting atop the table.
Barnes cringed at the onset of the seagull swarm, not understanding what was happening as he was overtaken by flapping wings and the raucous sounds of ravenous birds. He could feel the box of donuts on his lap being beaten down by the weight of the attacking gulls. He tried to lift the box up but had to fight against the onslaught. His cap was pulled from his head as he was finally able to get his arms free and tossed the entire box up in the air over his head. Most of the birds followed it up into the air and when the box landed a few seconds later, it was completely empty and not a single donut crumb hit the ground.
He turned wide eyes to look at Steve who was staring back at him with eyes just as wide. Steve blinked at him, not sure how to react or how Barnes was going to react. He noticed Bucky's hat had been dislodged and was lying on the ground and his hair was disheveled from the flapping wings of the swarming gulls.
"Buck?" Steve said cautiously and then they both became aware of laughter coming from the parking lot.
Bucky's eyes shifted to the people now looking at him from a distance and had witnessed the gulls attacking. It was a rather humorous site and they were laughing good-naturedly over his predicament. Steve turned to look over his shoulder to see the spectators too and then back to Barnes.
Bucky's eyes shifted again to look at Steve and then he burst out laughing. Steve couldn't help but smile and then relaxed completely as Bucky howled at the absurdity of what had just happened. Steve chuckled and stepped back up to the table, and put his egg sandwich safely back into the bag and picked up Bucky's baseball cap.
"Well, it's a good thing I decided to get us both two egg sandwiches. But I think," Steve said and then laughed again, "I think we'd better eat these in the car."
Bucky was still chuckling as he took his cap from Steve. He nodded and slid off the picnic table. He looked down at the empty donut box on the grass and decided not to pick it up for fear of triggering another event. He chuckled, grabbed the tray of coffees, and headed for the car.
They ate their sandwiches in the safety of Steve's car. Neither could stop grinning and once in a while they'd chuckle at the ridiculousness of the gull attack. Bucky reached into the bag and pulled out a small cardboard box with a lid and looked at Steve.
"Home fries," Steve told him. "They're more like tater tots, but seasoned to perfection."
Bucky nodded, remembering the tater tots served at lunch one day at the compound. He opened the box and they shared both orders of home fries. They finished their coffees and gathered up the trash to throw away. After washing up in the tiny restroom, they were back on the road.
