Soldiers ↠ Bucky Barnes

1 ↠ Recruit

"I heard from all the people who trained me that the soldiers don't like to talk to the nurses," Kathy explained in a quiet voice. Bucky almost had to strain to hear it. "And since most of the veteran nurses are so tight knit with each other, I sat by myself so I didn't bother anyone." Bucky turned away from his food for a moment, looking down at the small girl beside him who was focusing on her own food.

"I don't know why they wouldn't like to talk to the people who might very well be saving their lives one day," Bucky shrugged, going back to his food. "But if no one else will sit with you at meal times, you can always count on me to be here." He shot a wink at Kathy, causing her cheeks to heat up again. Silence settled over the two but it was short lived as the drill instructors came and gathered all the cadets, meaning the nurses had to go back to their stations as well.

The rest of the day was relatively peaceful. Only a few deep cuts here and there that the older nurses took care of, thinking that it would be good for Kathy to watch and learn as they worked. As time passed, the ladies played card games together to kill time, only pretending to teach Kathy something when a higher up would pass by. It was pretty easy going and Kathy actually started to make really good friends with the ladies she would be working close with for the next few years. Maybe shorter, maybe longer depending on circumstances.

At supper time, Bucky kept his promise and sat beside Kathy again.

"There was this huge barbed wire area that we were supposed to crawl under and about halfway through, someone gets stuck with half of us still stuck behind him, me including," Bucky gestured with his hands while he spoke, Kathy keeping her eyes on him as he did to show that she was listening.

"So how did you get him unstuck?"

"Well he was a pretty big guy," Bucky made a wide circle with his hands and puffed his cheeks out, causing a soft laugh to escape Kathy's lips. When he heard that sound, Bucky could swear his heart skipped a beat, but he ignored it and continued to explain. "So me and the guy next to me basically rolled this guy out like he was a tire. He was yelling at us and cursing us out the whole time because he was getting scraped by the barbed wire, but it wasn't anything bad enough to warrant a nurse visit."

"Well I don't know about that," Kathy hummed softly, tapping her chin with one finger. "I think someone did come by complaining about being rolled through the wire." This caused Bucky to laugh out loud and a smile graced Kathy's features. It was so easy to be herself around him. He was loud and had a very colorful personality, but not to the extent that it was annoying or bothersome to be around it. It was a perfect medium between nonexistent and overbearing and it made Kathy's smile grow as he started to tell another story.

Unfortunately, as quickly as lunch had ended, supper ended and the cadets went back to their training.

For weeks it went on like this. Kathy and Bucky sharing their meals together and even doing some catching up between when they woke up and when they started training. Despite being good friends already, Kathy was slightly saddened by the fact that all their conversations seemed to revolve around training and never anything more. She enjoyed her time with Bucky, but she wanted to get to know the history behind Bucky.

"So tell me more about who you were before you enlisted," Kathy hummed softly while she ate her mornings breakfast. Bucky was already almost finished with his food and she had no idea how he always did that.

"Well," a small smile graced Bucky's features but their seemed to be a hint of sadness lying behind it. "My best friend back home is Steve Rogers and you actually remind me a lot of him. You have the same color eyes and hair too." Bucky chuckled softly, more to himself than anything. "You're both tiny as hell too." That comment made Kathy laugh out loud, shaking her head.

"I'm not that small for a girl," she reasoned.

"Yeah but Steve is just as small as you, if not even smaller." Bucky countered. "Anyway, we've been best friends for as long as I can remember and I'm always pulling his ass out of whatever trouble he gets roped into. He thinks that it's a good idea to fight people triple the size of him and then I always have to step in to make sure he doesn't get seriously hurt.

"He has a lot of medical issues too, which really doesn't help him in any way, shape, or form. Before coming here, his mom passed. All he wanted was to join the army too, but they would never accept him because of his size. And now I'm here, because I want to be, but I can't help but feel bad considering he probably wanted this more than I did." Bucky frowned as he finished talking, gazing off into the distance as his eyes glassed over with sadness.

"It isn't your fault," Kathy spoke softly. She didn't like talking when it felt like she didn't know all the details, but that downcast look on his face made her heart feel like it was being squeezed. "You're allowed to be happy that you got what you wanted even though he couldn't be here to enjoy it too." As she finished her sentence, a drill instructor stood and called everyone to get started on their training.

At lunch their conversation took off like it had never been interrupted.

"I know it isn't my fault, but I was basically all that kid had left and now I'm living out his dream."

"Then you owe him the gift of enjoying this since he can't," Kathy explained. "If he can't be here himself, then you should enjoy it as much as you can so you can go home and tell him extravagant stories that make him feel like he lived it through you."

"I guess you're right," Bucky's frown slowly twitched back into his signature smile. "I gotta do my best to get in the front lines then so I can give him to best perspective." Kathy giggled softly, smacking his shoulder playfully.

"No, no," she scolded. "I don't need you showing up in my tent on a stretcher with half your blood on the battlefield."

"Alright, alright," Bucky held his hands up in resignation, letting the small girl win. "I'll have to compromise the best view for the best chance of being able to tell the story when I get home. So tell me about yourself-," he started to ask, but was cut off by the instructors calling the recruits back to training.

"Next time!" Kathy shouted to him as he walked away and he lifted up his hand, waving back at her with his back turned to her.

"I'm gonna hold you to that!"