A/N - I have so much planned for this story still and most of it's not very happy stuff (whoops) so I need to add some more happy filler chapters, hence this one (only like half of it is actually happy though, my bad) especially before the next one...
"Bucky?"
"Bucky."
"Bucky!"
He jolted awake.
"We're here, sleepy," Sam said.
Bucky blinked the blur from his vision. The other three were twisted in their seats, grinning at him. They were in Steve's driveway, sitting in Steve's car, after following each other around to everyone's houses to drop off their own vehicles and go to Steve's in one car. His head, the non-wounded side, was leaning against the window. How did he manage to fall asleep in the car? When he could barely sleep at home?
Normally, he'd be extremely alert as soon as he woke. But right now? He didn't have to bother. So Bucky lazily unbuckled his seatbelt and slipped out the car.
Natasha was waiting by his car door, eyebrow raised jokingly, smirking. Bucky ran his tongue along his teeth, shaking his head and smiling, then followed Steve and Sam to the front door.
Once inside, they sat around on the back porch whilst Steve fetched the first aid kit from the kitchen. Bucky silently followed him back inside and to the bathroom.
Both his hands gripped the bench as he struggled to fight the tiredness in his body. His breath came in deep shudders as he reluctantly peered up at his reflection in the mirror. Empty eyes stared back at him, surrounded by black shadows like a vignette photo filter. Dried blood was caked around his lip and the side of his face and his head pounded, as if shouting at him to stop getting beat up. The criminal stench of blood wafting from his own skin was too familiar and a wave of nausea hit Bucky like a train. With an unnecessary aggression, he flicked the tap faucet on and scrubbed at his face. He washed away the red with both hands until the wounds were borderline reopened, but at least the blood was gone. Instead, his fingers were stained and he watched the red swirl down the drain with a grim expression. He couldn't cleanse himself of the stain from HYDRA.
Steve suddenly appeared at the door with the first aid kit, watching Bucky aggressively wash his face. "Be more careful, man," he quipped.
Bucky didn't listen. "Can I just get a band-aid or something for this?" He gestured to his face.
"We'll get Nat to do it. She'll do a better job than the rest of us."
"Alright," Bucky murmured distractedly.
They went back out to the porch where Sam was seated in an armchair and Nat on the couch.
"Nat, would you mind?" Steve said, handing the kit to Natasha. "You'll do a better job."
Natasha nodded, patting the seat beside her for Bucky. He took a seat whilst Steve swung on the hanging chair again.
"Well, Bucky's out for the next few days, so why don't we skip school and hang out with him?" Natasha said with a grin.
"Really?" Sam said. "I'm in."
Steve looked apologetic. "If you can convince my mum to lie to the school... then of course I'm there."
They chatted for a while about random things but Bucky had zoned out. As he hunched forward on the couch, he let his eyes droop, blinking slowly. Natasha was careful as she tucked his hair out the way and bandaged up his head. She noticed the nervous glances he shot her and she remembered that his experience with doctors and people in general was mostly threatening and painful. Only a few times had she actually witnessed what HYDRA did to the Winter Soldier in the labs, normally without anything to numb the pain, only to relax his muscles so he couldn't move, but that was enough to remember for a lifetime. His raspy screams, his pained face, his beaten body, his empty eyes, his useless pleads was all enough to witness for a lifetime. Especially the horrible, crazy, cruel woman that was Madame Hydra. Natasha hated that woman with every fibre of her being for how she treated her friend.
She could still vividly remember most instances.
The Black Widows were in a training session with the Winter Soldier, who hadn't been read the trigger words, so was fighting less ruthlessly against the girls. He was pulling his punches and the Madame could tell.
As the Widows listened to orders from their own superiors, Natasha watched the interaction between the Soldier and the woman.
The young teen was standing off to the side at attention, his heart rate picking up as the Madame approached him.
Natasha couldn't hear them but she could see. She noticed how the Soldier's chest started to rise quicker, how his jaw clenched tighter, fists balled so his knuckles were white. His gaze was cold as he tried to establish whatever dominance he could, but his whole facade slipped through the cracks in his frightened face. The Madame was obviously scolding him with a soft voice. She looked down at him from the added height of her heels, gently combing his hair with her fingers as he tried to discreetly squirm away.
Natasha hated how she teased him with care like that. It reminded her how he was still a child. A child who was so touch-starved and fearful of punishment he would accept anything, do anything, to be comforted and appraised. It reminded her of how controlling HYDRA was by how different the boy acted as the Winter Soldier and himself. It reminded her how he was being used. It disgusted her.
She watched as he tried to turn away from her, only for the Madame to roughly grab his jaw and pull his head back. She smiled sweetly, venomously, down at him until she placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and leant down to whisper something in his ear. The Soldier winced and tried to flinch away but she held a tight grip.
When she released her grip and his fists unclenched, Natasha could see blood trickling from the crescent-shaped cuts in the inner palm of his hand.
Whatever the Madame had said must have been very threatening for the Soldier, who acted ruthlessly and emotionlessly during the rest of the session, no longer pulling any punches.
Another instance Natasha had seen was when she was sitting on the other side of his cell and he was inside, bloody and bruised. The Madame ignored Natasha and strolled over to the cowering Soldier.
The Soldier scampered away across the floor, trying to silence his whimpers and hisses of pain in the process. He glared at her as she approached him. His muscles were tensed and ready.
"[Don't even think about it, Soldier.]"
That only made him narrow is eyes further. Even though he was sitting bloodily and dirty against a cold concrete wall on the floor, trying to hide the shaking in his whole body, he was still threatening. Anger and hurt radiated from him. But he couldn't attack the Madame.
"[You're not going to fight me]," she reiterated, lowering to a crouch beside the boy.
The Madame's manner suddenly turned soft. "The agents went a bit far today, didn't they? They were a bit too rough." She tenderly brushed the hair from his eyes, ran her fingers across his purple cheek.
The Soldier was skeptical before he relaxed slightly, exhaustion taking over as he accepted whatever form of care the Madame was giving, since he received it from no one else (apart from Natasha at this time).
When she wrapped an arm around him like a hug, he fell into the embrace, body sagging dangerously. And The Madame placed a kiss to his head, before hastily getting up and shoving his skull to the ground.
Natasha gasped, tears welling in her eyes. The Soldier's eyes were wide in a daze as his brain rung before he collapsed to the ground and scrunched up his face in pain.
"You are the fist of HYDRA! You are our greatest creation, Soldier, yet you constantly disobey us. And for what? Do you think you can overpower HYDRA? Escape? And where would you go? You don't belong anywhere but here! You would be nothing without HYDRA. Soldier, look me in the eyes! You think you can defy us but you cannot because you are a pathetic and weak little boy! I want the Asset to be in best health but that cannot happen when you disobey. Misbehaviour always deserves punishment. This is all you deserve. This weakens you and you practically ask for it. After everything I've done for you... I'm disappointed."
The Madame ended her screaming with an ominously quiet and chilling voice before leaving with a loud slam of the cell door, causing the Soldier to grasp his head in pain. He rolled over on the floor, jaw clenched and nostrils flared in anger. Despite everything, he hadn't lost his spark. He wasn't the obedient young child HYDRA thought he was. He had seen the outside world, heard about it, wanted it. He had more of a reason to fight back now...
But Natasha could tell he was in some internal battle. The Madame's words, everyone's words, stuck with him. They fed them to him and he listened to it all. Was the Madame right? Did he have nothing?
The trained Black Widow got lost in her own world while Steve and Sam conversed. Her own world that revolved around the tortured boy beside her who was dozing off. Her own world that meant she remembered how that horrible woman had messed up Bucky emotionally. In an instinct that slightly surprised her, she wanted to wrap her arm around him and pull him towards her, letting him lie beside and against her in her embrace, both snuggled into each other and the couch. Nearly every time someone had cared for him in the past had ended up with him being hurt worse. He was horribly touch-starved and comfort-deprived, but she didn't approach him. Instead, she left him sitting alone on the edge of the couch. Chewing her lip, she watched him with a saddened expression as he fought off exhaustion.
Although, what she didn't know, was that Bucky also longed for her comforting touch.
***
Bucky ended up falling asleep again against the edge of the couch, curled in on himself and away from the others. Again, Natasha had to fight the urge to beckon him over to her instead of him sleeping alone and uncomfortably on the armrest, but stopped herself. She didn't think Bucky would mind yet didn't want to make anything weird between them. Did they have something? She couldn't tell. They'd been through similar traumatic experiences and could understand each other, and he was care-deprived, so was that all it was? She didn't know. Either way, she loved the relationship they all had, and didn't want to ruin it.
Whilst Bucky was still asleep, Natasha reluctantly decided to go home. She was enjoying just sitting around with her best friends but knew her parents would be wondering where she was and what happened at school. Her mum was conveniently near Steve's, so Melina picked up her daughter and took her home.
Some time later, Steve and Sam had gotten up again with the intention of playing football in the backyard, waking up Bucky in the process.
"Sorry, sleepy," Sam grinned.
Bucky rolled his eyes, groaning as he sat up. "Where's Nat?"
"She had to go home," Steve said with a smile, glancing to a smirking Sam.
"Okay," Bucky yawned. He nodded towards the ball in Steve's hand. "You playing footy?"
"Wanna join?"
So for an unknown amount of time, the three boys played football in the backyard like any kid should be doing.
They dived at the ground after the ball, kicking it as high and as hard as they could, leaping over each other. They tested out the strength of Bucky's metal arm throwing the ball, resulting in Steve being winded and Sam getting knocked to the ground. Laughter filled the stillness of the night as dusk draw upon them. Grass stains marked their clothes and knees, sweat plastering the hair to Steve and Bucky's faces. Eventually they trudged inside, huffing and puffing and bumping into one another. Their grins were stuck on their faces as well as the pink tint painted on their cheeks from the exercise.
"Okay, so, you'd never played before tryouts?" Sam was saying as they headed inside.
Bucky shook his head. "I mean, I'd watched games but never properly played."
"You've got mad skills."
"I'm flattered by your compliment, Wilson."
"Shut up."
"Guys," Steve interrupted sullenly. "I'm sorry but I have to take you all home now."
Sam had just sunk into the lounge. "What, why?" He exclaimed.
"I have to get ready to go out with Peggy," Steve murmured.
Sam leapt off the couch. "Good man!" he said excitedly.
"Where are you going, Steve?" Bucky asked as he leant against the wall.
"I'm not telling you because you'll tell Nat and she might come spy."
Sam looked offended but Bucky scoffed. "So it's at a park? Somewhere out in the open?" he suggested.
"What- how did you..." Steve sputtered.
"Well if she can easily spy on you it must be in the open, Rogers."
"So where is it?" Sam tried again.
Steve rolled his eyes. "Let's go, guys."
Bucky and Sam shared a smirk behind his back.
***
Sam was messaging on his phone from the back seat as Steve drove them to Bucky's house. They had all been bickering over what music to play until Sam suggested Marvin Gaye, after Bucky said he had never heard of him and Sam nearly died ("Tell me you're joking!" "You think HYDRA would give me a record player?").
"Are you doing anything tonight, Barnes?" Sam said with the click of his phone turning off.
Bucky thought about it. Of course he wasn't. "Nope."
"Do you want to just stay over at my place?"
"Really?" Bucky said hopefully.
"Yeah. Ma's fine with it and my sister has a friend sleeping over and I don't want to have to listen to them."
Steve raised his brows in disbelief at Sam through the rear-vision mirror. "Your ma's letting Sarah have a sleepover on a school night?"
Sam shrugged. "I guess."
"I mean if that's okay with you. If you'll miss me too much."
"Ha ha," Sam deadpanned. "But no of course you can."
Bucky relaxed in relief. "Thank you. I didn't want to deal with Mags tonight."
"I figured," Sam said grimly.
They stopped off at Bucky's for him to get some spare clothes and a toothbrush before heading to Sam's. After thanking Steve for being their personal Uber, they headed inside the Wilson's older but cozy suburban home. It was a pretty little house surrounded by trees and bushes, a small oasis in the big city.
Sam and Bucky were greeted by two younger girls of around 13 years old. One looked similar to Sam, the other with blonde hair. (In case you haven't figured, this will be nothing like Bucky and Sarah's flirty interactions in Falcon and the Winter Soldier so please don't interpret it that way lol)
"Samuel," Sarah said flatly.
"Sarah," Sam replied. "This is Bucky."
"I'm Gwen," the other girl said.
Bucky smiled. "Hi."
"Is your face okay?" Gwen inquired innocently as they all walked into the house.
Bucky shrugged. "Yeah, it's nothing."
Sarah narrowed her eyes at him. He returned the gesture sceptically. "We could braid your hair."
Sam groaned. "Sarah, no."
"Later?" she pleaded.
Bucky laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't mind."
"Bucky, no, don't give in to them."
"Don't tell him what to do, Sam."
"You did it first!"
"I think his hair would look pretty in braids."
"Sarah-"
Mrs Wilson suddenly appeared in the foyer wearing an apron.
"Children! Give Bucky a break!" she said sternly before turning to him with a kind smile. "Nice to meet you Bucky."
Bucky returned the smile. "Thank you for having me."
"Now, you two," she said to the girls before shooing them away with her hands, "stop bothering the boys."
***
Bucky did end up with his hair braided that night. Apparently, his brown waves were very soft and smelt like strawberries. The two uneven braids sat neatly on his head, it was actually very relaxing to have it done, whilst he and Sam lied on the couches to go to sleep. Bucky was out like a light, falling into a heavy sleep with the sound of Sam's chatter as background noise. He got a much-needed, dreamless sleep.
They had already sent a photo earlier to Natasha of course, who came back saying she was braiding his hair next, and Steve, who jokingly said he looked very pretty, upon which Nat agreed.