Bucky barely got any sleep on a normal night. Nightmares often woke him up during the night, and when you're sleeping, you can't tell if it's real or not.
On this night, he could barely get to sleep. He kept shaking memories of the time he had in Catarina's apartment out of his head, but they wandered back in. Bucky continued to find himself thinking about their talk. About Cat.
He fell asleep hours after he actually got in bed. But he slept through the night easy — no nightmares.
He went to the market in the morning, like always, then walked across the street and turned the corner toward Cat's apartment. He walked up the flights of stairs, thinking of the last thing Cat had said to him.
He knocked, then reached down for the door handle. It wasn't locked, but it was stuck like it had been yesterday. He elbowed it again, and it opened.
Immediately he saw the place was a mess. Books and papers were on the floor near the kitchen, the chairs and the table had been knocked over and pushed away to the side. The couch was crooked, and the dresser had been pushed to almost block the entrance. Bucky pushed it aside and opened the door further to see Cat on her knees by where the kitchen table had been, holding her head like she was in the newspaper photo.
"Catarina!" Bucky said, more alarmed than he thought he was. He went over to where she was kneeling.
Bucky took a breath in. "Cat... are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she lied, "This... it's happened before."
She let out a shaky breath.
Bucky took notice of her hands on her head.
"Your head hurts?" he asked.
"Horribly," she replied in a whisper. "Every time."
Bucky didn't really know what to do next. Reluctantly, he put his arm around her and rubbed her back. Deep in his mind, he remembered that used to make someone else feet the slightest bit better.
"Do you — um... I can help you to the couch," he said, glancing that way.
"Please," said Cat, looking up as much as he could. Bucky allowed her to put her weight on him. He soon discovered she could barely carry herself, so he made sure he was helping her as much as possible.
He sat on the couch next to her and took his arm off her shoulders. Cat leaned back against the cushions and let out a shaky breath. "Thank you," she said.
"What do you usually do when you're alone and this happens?" he asked.
"I sit in the spot until I stop hurting enough to go somewhere else," she said, as if that was no big deal. She was quiet for another second. Then she sighed.
"I wish we got a choice, Bucky," she said, looking up at the ceiling. "If I had a choice, I wouldn't have chosen this," she said. "They don't think we're people."
Her voice was cracking. Bucky wouldn't know what to do if she cried.
But she didn't. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes, then leaned on Bucky.
"You don't have a very comfortable shoulder," she said, turning to look at him.
"I wouldn't imagine it," he said, half-smiling. She had leaned on his metal side.
It was quiet until Bucky thought of something else to say.
"Why don't you get some rest," said Bucky. "I'll leave you alone."
"—No," said Cat immediately. She had realized how she had sounded and changed her statement. "I mean... you can go if you want, but maybe you could stay?" Her voice was quiet and raspy.
Bucky didn't have to think about it. "Then I'll stay," he said. He looked around. "Put some of this stuff back," he said, gesturing to the mess on the floor.
Cat smiled at him in thanks, then laid down on the couch and closed her eyes.
As quietly as possible, Bucky pushed the dresser, the kitchen table, and the chairs back in their places. He started picking up papers from the floor until a book caught his eye.
Heroes of World War II
Bucky picked it up and turned to the page that was bookmarked with a library receipt. The date on it was yesterday. The page started in the middle of a sentence, one that had begun on the previous page.
... and his Howling Commandos were amazing people. Most notable among them was Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, or as called by his best friend, Steve Rogers, Bucky.
Barnes was the eldest child of four, and he and Rogers had been friends since childhood. Barnes often defended Rogers against people who took advantage of his small height and build. The two were friends for many years.
There was a picture of Bucky with some of the Howling Commandos.
When Barnes joined the army, Rogers longed to join as well. While fighting on the war front, Barnes and the 107th infantry were captured by the Nazi organization HYDRA, and Barnes was experimented on, and given HYDRA's version of the Super Soldier Serum. Barnes was the only person they had tested it on.
Bucky stopped reading. When was this book written? He looked in the first couple of pages and found a year — 2014. That was last year, the year he had escaped HYDRA's control — also the year that all HYDRA's information had been released to the world. Whoever wrote this must have done their research.
Wanting to find out more about himself, the Winter Soldier continued reading.
Rescued from captivity by none other than his best friend, Barnes joined Captain America and the Howling Commandos on a mission to capture Arnim Zola, the lead scientist behind HYDRA. On this mission, Barnes fell from a train into a ravine near the Danube River. Having had the Super Soldier Serum, Barnes survived, though his arm was severed from his body.
From there, Barnes was taken by HYDRA. His memories were erased, his arm was replaced with a prosthetic, and Barnes became the fist of HYDRA: the Winter Soldier.
Bucky stopped there. He knew the rest.
He hadn't been able to finish the story for Cat, so she did her research. Maybe she wanted Bucky to see it.
He turned to look at her on the couch. She was sleeping. Bucky smiled at her and turned to continue cleaning.
a.n:
lol i got most of the book's text from fandom wiki
ahhhhhhhhh THIS CHAPTER
also PLS IM SO SORRY I DIDN'T DO THIS MONDAY
okay but the romantic thing where one smiles at the other when they're not looking >>>> ugh it makes me so happy
what's your favorite cute couple thing? maybe I'll work it in later in the story (i already have act two finished and I'm started on act three lol)
don't forget to vote!
molly ☆
YOU ARE READING
𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 | bucky barnes
Fanfiction[complete!] "𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘?" "𝐀𝐒 𝐈'𝐋𝐋 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄." 𝐉ames "Bucky" Barnes had been lost for a very, very long time. He didn't know what it was like to take refuge in a person. He was searching for something else. But sometimes, the thi...
