Holding On | Bucky Barnes

22 | Wednesday, January 26th

I blink and my fingers still on the dog tag.

What was I doing?

I examine the diagram, brows furrowed.

Oh.

Right.

I'm designing a housing compartment for the tailors.

I tap a few things before pausing.

Will this work?

I stare for a moment, trying to work it out in my head.

I'm startled to attention as the door opens behind me.

What was I doing again?

"Hey, kid, how's it going?"

I shake my head. "Uh, good. I was just..." I trail off, stare at the screen, trying to remember.

"Figuring out the housing compartment?" Tony finishes for me, leaning on the desk. He swipes through the screens before looking at me from the corner of his eye. "Get distracted?"

"I—What?"

"You haven't done anything," he quirks an eyebrow. "You've been in here for over an hour."

"I have?" I look to the clock on the wall in confusion. "Huh."

"Alright, you're done for the day."

"What? No. If I haven't done anything, I should work on this."

"It'll be here tomorrow. Come on," he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me from my computer. He guides us over to an empty desk and sits me down. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." He gives me a blank look and I sigh. "I don't know... Out of it, I guess."

"How much did you sleep last night?"

I shrug. "An hour I think."

He runs a hand over his face. "How much did you sleep the night before?"

"Didn't."

"Because of the night terror?"

I nod, eyes trained on the desk. "I didn't know what was real... And I thought if I fell asleep, I would wake up in that training room again..." I whisper, pulling my hands up to press the heels into my eyes.

"You can't avoid sleeping forever," Tony mumbles.

"I know... But I'm scared."

"I get it..." he sighs. I take a slow breath to calm my nerves. "Let's get something to eat," he says gently.

"I'm not hungry..." I shake my head.

"Y/N, it's three and I know you haven't eaten anything, let's go."

He's right.

I sigh and nod, pulling my hands away from my face.

Tony got here this morning, said he wanted to be at the Compound in case he was needed since we keep getting new information about the drugs.

But he's certainly been keeping a close eye on me...

We make our way out of the lab and into the empty common area where Tony heads to the kitchen while I drop onto a stool at the island. "In the mood for anything in particular?" he asks, searching through cupboards.

"Mmm, no, anything is fine," I mumble, resting my head on my arms. My mind goes blank as I hear Tony's rhythmic clanking in the kitchen.

"Hey, doll," I hear Bucky whisper.