𝓒𝓸𝓾𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓼 (𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓬) 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓹𝔂

‧̍̊˙˚˙ᵕ꒳ᵕ˙˚˙ ii ˙˚˙ᵕ꒳ᵕ˙˚˙‧̍̊

The therapist nodded, using one of her folded hands to gesture to the door. Bucky got up quickly, getting the message. He also grabbed the door for you, and followed you out into the hall.
"Is this a prank?" you asked as gently as possible.
Bucky made like the shrink and crossed his arms. "Well, since I don't even really want to be here, I wouldn't do anything to make things worse."
You tilted your head to the side. "Oh, so I'd make things worse?"
Bucky let his arms drop to his sides, staring up at the ceiling and he let out a long sigh. "That isn't what I meant." He still didn't bring his face away from the ceiling. It was bare and white. "I just...I don't want anyone involved with my problems who don't need to be. You don't want to hear it."
That made sense. He's been through some shit to say the least.
"I understand. But, we need to work together. Are we gonna go in there and ask her to change this?" you ask.
Bucky brought his head down and winced through his teeth. "I don't think she'd believe us."
That had been what you were thinking. This shrink was a no nonsense type of woman. Wasting her time was also a no no. Which was exactly what you two were doing in the hallway.
You told that to Bucky. He nodded.
"Then what's our story? Why are we here?"
One problem after another, you paused to think. "Maybe the forms we sent have the answer to that. We'll get her to tell us."
Bucky liked the sound of that. "If she doesn't have that then... we're a couple whose work is affecting our relationship? There's too much distance? I don't know."
His concept had potential. "That actually sounds great. The only things she can make us do is to get to know each other! No big information needed. It's perfect. We just need to hold out for an hour and then we can do separate sessions next week!"
Bucky's face relaxed while his body was tense. Unless that was how he normally stood. He appeared sturdy in the leather.
You two headed inside the waiting room once more. The therapist was sitting in the middle of the couch that you had previously occupied.
"I assume you have all your affairs in order after that long discussion," she said, straight faced. Making a fuss of heaving her slender body from the couch, she led us into her office.
It had the same paint and trees as the waiting room. There was another couch resting against a wall. More floor to ceiling windows, and across from the couch was a chair for the therapist to sit in. That's where she headed while you and Bucky had a seat on the couch.
"I'm Dr. Christina Raynor, but you already knew that, I'm sure. And you are?"
"Y/n. Y/n l/n."
Bucky rolled his head to the side and gave his name too. You could tell he was telling the truth in the hall; he really didn't want to be there.
"Great, progress already," said Dr. Christina. She plucked a Manila folder from the side table next to her chair and placed it on her lap.
"So, you two are having relationship issues?"
You sighed, hyping up the drama.
"It's like we don't even know each other," Bucky groaned.
Dr. Christina looked at the papers. "So I've noticed. Tell me, what makes you think this?"
You decided to take the reins when Bucky didn't say anything. "Well, we both have very busy jobs."
Dr. Christina hummed, her eyes flicking from you back to the folder where she was no doubt reading that one of you was a SHIELD agent, the other being the ex Winter Soldier.
"And we want to make this work, but any time we have together we're too tired to make something work," you continued, trying to say something that made sense. Hopefully Bucky was listening. You figured he was, that was the only thing he could do, along with coming up with more to say.
"If that's such an issue, then why not break up? If you two are only dating, then why not separate?" Dr. Christina mused.
You blinked. Bucky rested his arms on his thighs. "Because we want to make this work. I love y/n, I really do, but we're just having a rough patch. We felt that a third party would be beneficial."
Dr. Christina nursed a smile, not letting it get large. "That's nice. What do you think, y/n?"
Hiding your surprise isn't something you need to do every time she speaks. You'd just have to get used to it. "I feel the same way. Bucky is a wonderful guy, a great partner. He's so kind, like, sometimes he'll make breakfast and they're the best pancakes, I swear. Blueberry and then sweet blueberry syrup to go with."
Bucky pushed off his thighs and looked at you.
"I mean, breakfast is wonderful. Kind gestures are great. But, when he speaks from the heart it's some of the most reassuring things you've ever heard."
The pancake thing was made up. One hundred percent. But you heard Bucky talking, from transcripts from the forties, to hearing him talk on occasion around the compound, he's not as bad a guy as he thinks he is.
Bucky hadn't expected that at all. You knew he was going to comment about it after the session.
Dr. Christina wrote something down on a clipboard. Bucky looked at her doing it.
"What's that for?"
"Personal notes. I like to keep track of progress, what is said, so I can get to know you two better, simple things like that," she explained.
Bucky's head tilted, but he let it go, relaxing into the couch. Or, he tried to, though he still appeared tense.
Dr. Christina put her pen down on top of the paper. "How about we do an exercise?"