Reveries of Spring│Bucky Barnes

━ 𝟎𝟕

A sudden cough threw Artemis and Martina out of their moment of bonding and they both turned around to see Bucky who was staring at his shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. 

"Are you ready?" he asked, directing his question at Martina, even though it could have been to either woman with his lack of eye contact. 

"Yeah." She nodded her head and handed Artemis her empty cup. "Thank you."

Artemis squeezed her shoulders and let her go, eyeing Bucky with a soft smile as he and Martina walked away from her. 

Victorious, she turned again to face the window. 

"What's got you smiling like that? I've just appeared!"

Artemis screeched as her cup shattered on the floor and drew her fists back, only to stop when she saw her annoying fiance beside her. 

"You know I hate it when you do that!" she yelled at him, looking down at the cracked salvation to her sleep deprivation on the floor. 

Loki snickered under his breath and with a snap of his fingers, Artemis found a new steaming cup of coffee in her hands. 

"Forgive me, love," Loki said, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before coming behind her and wrapping his arms around her stomach. "I was merely curious when I saw that look in your eyes."

Artemis took a sip of her cup and raised her eyebrows innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar," he whispered against her hair. "Believe me, I rather enjoy it. It's only fitting that the future wife of the God of Mischief has a good amount of it as well."

"Like I said..." Artemis thought back to the soft smile on Bucky's face that he had meant to hide when Martina joined his side before they left. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

━

Bucky and Martina were sitting across from each other in the library silently- as they had been for the last five minutes. 

Whenever she looked up at Bucky, he was staring blankly in space straight behind her, seemingly trying to conjure up the nerve to speak. 

She was on the edge of her seat every time he let out a soft sight, or ran his hands through his hair, or fidgeted in his seat. 

"Okay."

With one word, she straightened up and gave him her unflinching attention. 

"Yes?"

"This is what we're going to do," he stated very matter-of-factly. "This is called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR. It's nontraditional. Basically, your memories are connected to physical sensations and emotions. So, we identify those physical sensations and emotions and try to figure out where they come from. That's how we get to the memories."

"Sounds...professional," she laughed, scratching her arm. "Are you- um- qualified to do this?"

"Hell no," Bucky chuckled, shaking his head. "My friend Sam taught me how to do it and I'm going to teach you but, in order to do this, we're going to get really personal with each other. Does that bother you?"

"No. Does it bother you?"

He smiled at the way she so ferociously bit back, wondering if she still believed that he held animosity toward her.