New York (Nico and the Avengers)

32. The reveal

Bucky's POV

It's been thirty six hours and he's still asleep. This isn't natural for humans, but we can't change anything. I look up when the door enters and Steve brings two plates in. we've been watching two at a time, and we're together of course. If it wasn't for the fact that Nico could wake up and there's cameras we probably would've ended up kissing most of our shifts away. "Any change?" Steve asks just like everyone does when they walk in that door, including me.

"No, he's still out cold. Is it possible he got some sort of head injury?"

"Natasha already asked Bruce that, he said not really and there are more probable explanations."

"Okay, I just didn't want to ignore something and have it make everything worse."

"It was a good idea," he says as he puts down the chair he dragged over.

"But she already thought of it." I grumble, but it's really a little scary. I've always had something that I was better at than the others around me, and now I don't, so I don't have a role. And I've caused a rift between Steve and Stark, that could be a serious problem in the future.

"Bucky, relax, everything's going to be fine." How can he know what I need so often? Maybe he's got telepathy or something and didn't tell me, or the serum made it easier to understand body language. Or maybe he just knows me well, which seems the most likely.

Suddenly something starts beeping faster. "What's that?"

"JARVIS, tell everyone Nico is waking up," Steve says, answering my question but also ignoring me.

"What happened?" Bruce says as he crashes through the doors.

"He seems to be waking up on his own, I can't think of anything we did that would wake him up."

"That does make sense, he was asleep for a long time. Also he doesn't seem to be messed up, and this weird phase shifting has slowed down, by a lot."

"Is that good?"

"Yes, but we need to figure out why it happened. I did a study on it and if my theories are correct this could kill him if it went too far."

"What do you mean?"

"He would permanently become a mist. He might be able to survive but I doubt it, although if he did he might be able to come back. Of course I don't have enough information to be sure of any of it but that seems to be the most likely outcome."

"So he should avoid smokifying at all costs," Tony says to Bruce.

"Maybe, but we don't know how it started, for all we know it could be some sort of protection from a toxin or a bioweapon."

"However there wasn't any sign of an attack," Natasha points out.

"Unless he managed to escape but they infected him with it to prevent that."

"What's going on?" Nico groans, cutting off the discussion.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." I've said those words too many times to believe him, but pushing too hard could just make everything worse, and it's obvious Clint and Natasha picked up on that as well. Steve may have, but he's already worried about Nico so it's hard to tell.

"What happened?"

"That's none of your business."

"Nico, we're worried about you," I risk saying and he looks up.

"...but you can't help," he says quietly but not quietly enough considering that Steve and I have enhanced hearing. He's not going to open up with everyone here, and when I make eye contact with Steve he gets the message and leads everyone out, promising Bruce he'll be able to check on Nico soon, and that we'll call him if anything happens.