Mosaic (Bucky Barnes X OC / Winter Soldier x OC)

Chapter 26: Valeriy Ayers - Not Them (Part III)

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My arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer. I squeezed down as tight as I needed to be held, but he would never return it. I could feel the fear he held every time he touched me, scared that I'd break by his hand.

Took a moment for his arm to rest lightly around my lower back. As he curled around me, his head tucked under my chin.

"You're safe here, Bucky," I whispered against his hair.

I hoped that I'd relax him, but it had the opposite effect. The man froze up.

Again.

"Bucky?"

A little shake didn't jar a reaction from him. Nor did a hand wave in front of his face do anything.

"Okay. You've shut down again. How many times do I have to say that I'm not going to bite you when I'm lucid?"

With I sigh, I stood up and a flick of the wrist motioned to the dogs to open with the door.

"Alright, Beautiful, let's head back inside, shall we?"

No answer from Bucky.

But he gave no resistance when I nudged him onto his feet. Merely followed along while I moved him back inside Soteria.

"You broke him again?"

I flipped Eve the bird, guiding him to my room. He could sleep this off like last time.

"He woke up about ten minutes ago."

'Damnit.... I wanted to wrap him up in a blanket cocoon again,' I pouted, carefully maneuvering Bucky to sit on the couch.

"What did you do this time?"

"I really don't know why he's doing this all of a sudden."

My fingers found themselves wound around a fluffy blanket. My hands draped blanket after blanket. Wrapped him up in a heap of soft things.

Nothing I could do about how straight backed he sat though.

Playing with his hair hadn't brought him back from that blank state he seemed to be stuck in. All the knots were detangled by the time I gave up that tactic.

He didn't react to the dogs using him as a bed. Both of them piled on his lap, tails wagging away against his arms.

Shoving the dogs off him did nothing too. He didn't stop me at all.

"Cinnamon buns. Might as fucking well."

I doubt a hug would work. I doubt it very much so.

So that left me staring at a box filled with a whole bunch different kinds of cinnamon buns. Probably every kind collected from a nearby city.

'Oooo, this one's yummy.'

With that thought, I set one in the toaster oven.

"Eve, stop the toasting before it gets charred. He doesn't much like charred food."

"Fine.... About him training you...."

"Look, I get it. You want to get him to Gramps ASAP, and your children are precious. So I get it," I interrupted while rinsing off the oily sugar stuck to my fingers. "I just thought of it as another tool in my hat of tricks for when shit hits the fan? Definitely useful if I end up on my own. Looking back, I see more than a few situations where some combative skills would have been rather.... It would have prevented some shit?"