Weaponised

4

Rebecca Carter

I'm still sweating buckets when Bucky and I return to our tent that evening. Dinner was a raucous and somehow not disappointing affair, but now it's just the two of us. He holds open the tent flap for me. "Do you want me to stay outside while you change?" he asks.

I shake my head. "It'll look pretty odd. Just... don't look, okay?" Bucky smirks. "I mean it, Yank."

"Yank?"

"You're American, dumbass. Yankees? Now get inside and turn around."

"Yes, boss," he smirks. I resist the temptation to slap his pretty face- his arrogance is infuriating.

I change faster than I usually would, hiding behind the cover of darkness and oversized clothes. Thankfully this time I manage my binder without issues and am under the cover before Bucky lights the lamp. He tells me I'm fast; I tell him I know. "G'night, Carter," he says after, blowing out the light. I don't know why he lit it in the first place.

"Goodnight, Barnes," I reply, watching the shadows flicker across the tent. Hearing Bucky breathe is odd- he only snores a little bit. It's bearable. I roll over to stare at him but my eyes can't stay open that long. I'm asleep before I know it.

*

Every day is the same. Training, drills, dinner, sleep. It's the nights that make this is more interesting. One evening, a few weeks after I joined the 107th, Bucky and I are laying on our respective beds. I'm reading a telegram from my sister, containing classified information about Steve Rogers. Since I helped start up the program, I get the details filled in. Bucky asked me about it when I first opened it but as I can't tell him anything he stopped badgering me, which is why he's staring at the roof, bored. I've apologised maybe half a dozen times already- maybe I should do it again.

I do. He just shrugs it off again. "So, what parts of your life can you tell me?"

I snort. "Honestly? Not a lot. But if you want to ask, I'll see what I can do."

Bucky smiles, rolling over to face me. I mimic him and prop my head up with my elbow. His eyes are blue, flickering with the warm light from the lamp. "You said you got a sister, right?"

"Yeah. Peggy. Brother, too."

"He in the army too?"

"He's dead."

Bucky sighs. "Damn, I'm so sorry..."

I shrug- awkwardly, considering my position- and thank him. "What about you? Any siblings?"

"Eldest of four," he grins.

I let out a low whistle. "Bloody hell. At least you got to bully your siblings. I got crapped on, constantly. Although Michael- that's my brother- was always so supportive of Peg and I."

"He sounds great."

"Yeah," I smile softly. I miss my brother, kind of a lot. But now is not the time to dwell on such things. "What other questions do you have for me?"

Bucky shifts to lie on his front. "If you weren't here, right now, where would you be?"

"Most likely in one of the SSR compounds. Wherever my sister is, really."