Author's Note: I'M SORRY I DIDN'T HAVE A BETTER GIF FOR THIS CHAPTER
~
I called for Bucky, hoping he'd show up rather quickly.
He showed up within 5 minutes.
"Hey, Bucky," I acknowledged. "I need to give you the pills and teach you about a few things,"
"Alright," Bucky replied calmly.
A little too calmly.
He cast me a sideways smile and pulled up a chair next to me, gazing at me intently and waiting for me to start explaining.
"So, after you take these pills and go to bed, you'll most likely experience a nightmare. Now, lucid dreaming is like virtual reality except you can see, hear, touch, feel, and even taste things," I explained. "So when you're in a lucid nightmare, the nightmare feels extremely real."
Bucky nodded. "Sounds... great,"
"But there are things you can do, and it's really easy to change. There are just a few things to remember," I said. "Number one: nothing is real. None of it. As much as you want to believe that it is, none of it is real."
"Nothing is real," Bucky repeated.
"Number 2: you have full control over everything." I prompted.
"I have full control over everything," he repeated once again, a small smile crossing his face.
"Number 3: if you panic, you will NOT be able to wake up."
"Panic will prevent me from waking up."
"Good. Repeat those 3 things back to me."
"Number one: nothing is real," he started.
"Yes."
"Number 2: I have full control over everything," he continued. I felt his hand slide onto my thigh. I tried not to straighten my posture as I felt my face light up. He began to rub it lightly.
"Number 3: I won't be able to wake up if I panic."
"G-great," I stammered, wishing I could see my burning face. "I'll need to teach you what to do if you run across a lucid nightmare. There are many ways you can get out of it, so there will be many things I can teach you,"
"I think I can teach you a few things, too, Nico," he replied softly, grinning at me. "Tonight, maybe?"
I wished I wasn't looking at him because he grinned even wider at the sight of my blushing furiously.
"I'm sorry, I cut you off," he said slowly. "What were you saying?"
"...gee, thanks," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Anyways, I need to teach you a few techniques. A few things to know: in lucid dreaming, you can do literally anything, like flying and teleporting and such. However, I do suggest not 'teleporting' but rather imagining a door behind you that will lead you to the place you want to go, because you have to imagine everything. Like if you want someone to appear, you imagine them behind you. The second thing you should know is that your brain makes everything act like it would in real life. So if you try a food that you've never tasted before, your brain will just make something up. Also, if you start flying around, people are likely to stare at you in complete shock as they would if you were to actually take off flying in the real world. Though I suppose they wouldn't be all that surprised, considering that Thor still exists. In fact, scratch that. They probably wouldn't be any more surprised than they would be if they saw a pigeon flying overhead."
"I have a question about that," Bucky interjected. "So my brain wants everything to be like reality, right? So if I walk down the street, won't I suddenly be crowded with police officers or something?"
I thought about his question for a second. "Probably. But if you imagine that there are no police in that world or just ask them to disappear, they won't be there."
"Wait, I can literally just ask people to not exist?"
"Yup,"
"How have I never heard of this before?!"
"I don't know,"
"'Hey, uh, Nico, could you, like, disappear?'"
"'Hey, uh, Bucky- like, no,'"
Bucky sniggered, elbowing me playfully.
"You're cute when you're sarcastic," he said airily. "And when you're embarrassed,"
I felt my face heat again.
"Stop it," I grumbled, smirking.
"Why?" he leaned against me and worked his arm around my waist.
"Because I said so," I replied as his nose teased my neck.
"What if I ignore you?" he whispered.
"...then... I'll be mad,"
He laughed softly and kissed my jaw a bit, moving his lips to my mouth and pulling me into a full-blown kiss. As much as I liked him, I felt tense as he began to pull away only to come back a second after. What if somebody walked in? I couldn't be caught like this, surely. Especially not with Bucky in particular, that would only lead to trouble.
Slowly and carefully, I pulled away from Bucky completely. He eyed me with worry.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
I caught his eyes. "Look, Bucky... I- I really like you, but... if anybody finds me out... finds us out..."
"We don't have to tell anyone," Bucky suggested. "I heard Shuri talking about moving us to an isolated part of Wakanda. Maybe we'll be safer there?"
"Maybe,"
"I- I get it. Where- I guess I should say when- when I wasn't... well... the winter soldier, I lived in a time period where it was queer to be homosexual or bisexual or all of that,"
"Still is," I joked.
He laughed, casting me a genuine smile.
"You millennials made a word meaning 'weird' turn into a word that symbolizes the- what do you guys call it? The BLT community?"
"LGBTQ+," I corrected, trying not to laugh at his oblivious tone. "For some reason, people like to make variations, like LGBTQIA+, LBGT, etc, etc. The plus stands for all the other things we can't seem to be able to fit into the name, so why exactly are we making variations?"
"I don't know, I've been brainwashed for a couple of years and frozen for the other 70. I don't know anything, anymore."
I laughed, feeling slightly giddy by his presence.
"Does this- does this make us..?" he trailed off, a small, nervous smile on his face.
"Boyfriends? Only if you want to," I replied quietly.
"Well, of course, I want to," he grinned. "Get over here, emerald eyes."
He smashed our lips back together, but this time only briefly, just in case Shuri walked in.
He smiled at me with his beautiful blue eyes, and I smiled right back.
"Thank you," he said softly.
"No," I responded, "Thank you."