REVIVAL GAME ▹ parker

iii ━━ welcome to the nightmare

Romanoff—Barnes.

Svet gets a room of her own with a big bed filled with the softest pillows she's ever seen and a massive walk—in closet. Her closet is no longer so empty, now filled with clothes that are a range of styles and vibes. When they went shopping a few weeks back, Natasha had asked what Svet's style was. Not Bucky's style, not Natasha's style, Svetlana's style. The girl had absolutely no idea what to tell her.

Back in the old days, Svetlana wore whatever was available to her. On the run with Bucky, she wore her papa's socks and whatever he managed to buy at the market with no complaints. Then, when she was on the run with Natasha, Steve, and the rest, she simply wore whatever she could blend in with. Then during those terrible, terrible years after the Snap, she spent most of them in uniform or in cryo.

Now, finally with a closet to call her own, Svet realizes that she really has... well, nothing.

So, they get everything.

Svetlana's style, whatever it may be, will take time for her to work it out. Then again, all they have now is time.

But adjusting to living as part of three rather than two is... hard.

Like the painfully awkward dinners that Svetlana insists they eat together, like Natasha accidentally walking in on Bucky in the shower. Or in the moments when Svet and Bucky seem to have their own language, knowing each other's minds without saying a word and Natasha has to remember all the years she lost. Like Svetlana sitting in the middle of the couch as they both fall asleep on her shoulders during a movie so she can't go to the bathroom. Or the arguments that Bucky and Natasha get into over things that feel so meaningless later.

It's hard but it's also good.

Because while Natasha also lacks any form of culinary skill, she does know the best restaurants around Brooklyn like Izzy and Sal's Deli. She teaches Bucky and Svet how to correctly do laundry, and she laughs only a little bit when they struggle in the grocery store. She doesn't judge them for their nightmares and they don't judge her for sleeping with a gun under her pillow.

Life starts to get easier.

If they can ignore the nightmares, ignore the discomfort and the tension, they all can feel things falling into place.

Bucky knows it when he leans in the doorway of their half—finished kitchen, watching Natasha and Svet with their matching red hair twisted up into messy buns, flour smeared across both of their faces, making a complete mess as they try to make something resembling dinner.

Bucky thinks that maybe this is where he can find peace.

Natasha knows it when Svet forces them to watch some cheesy action movie and the father and daughter fall asleep, one after another, Svet's head on Natasha's shoulder and Bucky curled around their girl like a shield. They look somehow more similar when they're asleep; soft, peaceful, strangely delicate.

Natasha thinks that maybe this is really going to last this time.

Svetlana knows it when she sleepily comes downstairs one morning to find both of her parents at the kitchen table, talking and chuckling and each sipping coffee as they discuss plans for the present and for the future, Al Bowlly's 'Guilty' playing in the background like a bittersweet memory.

Svetlana thinks that maybe this can finally be home.

As the days turn to weeks in their new home, Svetlana decides to stay fit. Though, truth be told, she's not sure she could ever be out of shape. With the serum pumping in her veins, she'll always be in perfect condition. But after a lifetime of struggling, it feels too strange to do nothing at all. And maybe a part of her is looking to feel something, to feel something hurt, to feel something familiar.