Shadows and Secrets (A MCU FanFic)

Chapter 32: Test (Part 1)

Bucky's POV

Bucky handed Marjorie a glass of water and she scowled at him. "If you don't drink that, I will pour it down your throat," he threatened.

Marjorie rolled her eyes. "I'd like to see you try." But she took the glass anyway.

She was rather pretty today, he noted.

Of course, she was always rather pretty.

But green was definitely her color. It looked really good with her complexion.

Everything looked good on her.

Bucky had made her eat something, but Marjorie didn't seem like she found eating was that important, and instead complied with an amused tolerance.

She often skipped meals like it wasn't a big deal—more often lunch and dinner—and when she did eat, she just picked at the food like she wasn't that hungry. Bucky also theorized that Marjorie skipped sleep routinely.

He didn't understand how she could still function properly; how she was still standing.

Bucky knew that this pattern was not at all good for her health, and he also knew that Marjorie didn't prioritize her health. Keeping herself in a good condition was not her first thought, or even her second.

It was Bucky's first priority, and he resolved to make sure he reminded Marjorie to do things such as drink water.

On the other hand, Marjorie would not be able to do all of the things she did without collapsing if she truly skipped all the meals Bucky had noticed.

There must be something I am missing...

Perhaps her healing powers worked to keep her running?

Or maybe she was just really practiced at concealing her exhaustion, to a certain extent.

"I think we ought to brainstorm about the nightmares," Marjorie said casually.

Bucky didn't have a nightmare last night, and he was pretty sure Marjorie was the reason why. The only time he felt safe was with her.

But he didn't want to put that pressure on her.

But to be free of the nightmares...

And Bucky liked how she felt asleep in his arms; when Marjorie was all soft curves and the quiet innocence of sleep.

"Yeah, we probably should." He considered Marjorie's tendencies to over-think, and asked her, "Do you have any theories?"

Marjorie pulled out a small notebook from god knows where, and showed him a bulleted list. "The change would logically happen because of some changed variable, unless your nightmares were naturally fading."

"They're not." Bucky had had vivid nightmare after vivid nightmare for months.

Marjorie looked at him with a soft, sad look in her eyes. "I know. So I determined that the change must have either been because of A) something that happened earlier that day, B) the location, or C) me being there."

Marjorie seemed determined to keep a scientific and unbiased expression, and Bucky was having a hard time reading her.

"It's definitely not A." Yesterday he was very stressed.

Marjorie going on a potentially dangerous mission was already stressfully, and then he found out that there is a group plotting to get rid of mutants—what Marjorie was.

It made Bucky want to lock Marjorie in a safe spot somewhere, but she would hate that.

Marjorie was unfortunately prone to recklessness; probably a side effect of being extremely powerful and having little regard for her health.

"Excellent–" Marjorie crossed out the first option "–the other two will be much easier to test."

Test?

Bucky supposed that the best way to find out would be to see if the same thing (Marjorie sleeping in his arms) made him not have nightmares again, but he certainly wasn't going to suggest it first.

"...What do you mean, 'test'?" Bucky asked slowly.

"Well, to see if this is just a random fluke or results of a certain set of conditions, we would have to apply each of those conditions to the situation again in a controlled way." Marjorie paused. "Probably three times."

Bucky ignored the concept of repeating the 'conditions' for now. "Why three?"

"Um, I'm not sure, but you are supposed to have at least three trials in a science experiment?"

Honestly, Marjorie was adorable.

"Okay. How would we do that?"

Marjorie paused and Bucky wondered what she was really thinking. "I guess we could do normal location and me there first, since that would test two at once. If that's cool with you, I mean."

His nerves curled in anticipation, and he told himself to get a grip. Bucky could not afford to lose control of himself.

"That's fine." Bucky noticed that Marjorie was blushing slightly.

Marjorie was very pretty when she blushed; it made Bucky want to touch her face and pull her closer.

Instead he focused on breathing steadily and keeping his face blank.

He didn't think that Marjorie would mind, considering that they were dating, but he still felt odd touching her.

It was because she was so fragile looking. Bucky was afraid that if he put his arms around her, she would break.

It would be easy too. He could accidentally break her spin with one finger.

Logically, Bucky knew that he couldn't use enough force to break bones unintentionally, but he could still hurt her.

It was a paranoid worry; but Bucky was paranoid.

Reasonably so.

Marjorie flipped over a page in the notebook and started doodling randomly a few seconds before Nat entered the kitchen. Bucky guessed that Marjorie had felt her shadow vapor coming.

Nat paused. "Woah, what are you guys doing here?"

He didn't really understand her question, and Marjorie didn't seem to either. "Uh, we live here?" she retorted.

"No, I mean in the kitchen," Nat said impatiently. "I figured I wouldn't see either of you for at least a week."

Marjorie stared at Nat critically. "Unfortunately, no."

Nat looked disappointed, which only made him more confused.

"... What are you guys talking about?"

Nat smirked at him and Marjorie started giggling.

"Should I tell him?" Nat asked Marjorie.

"Absolutely not! Besides, he'll figure it out eventually."

...It took him approximately 5 seconds to figure it out once he realized how it must have looked for Marjorie and Bucky to disappear together and not return until the morning.