Eunoia [Bucky Barnes]

chapter 52

A few days later and both Ava and Bucky were settled into the lifestyle.

That morning, Ava was only woken by the feeling of Bucky stirring awake. She had fallen asleep outside then night before on one of their nightly walks, so had been carried back in when Bucky had decided to go to sleep. Naturally, she had expected to be sleeping on the floor, so when she rolled to her right and began to sense a drop, the feeling of arms wrapping tightly around her jolted her back to her senses.

"Where are we?" Ava asked Bucky, still not entirely awake.

"The couch." He answered quietly, pulling her back up on top of his chest.

"The couch?" Ava asked, imagining herself to still be asleep because of the answer.

"The one and only." Bucky spoke back, making Ava sit up, putting her legs to either side on his stomach.

"Wait.. we're actually on a couch. Oh my god, Bucky. A couch!" Ava lay back down, soaking in the moment. Bucky chuckled at her reaction as he began running his fingers through her hair.

"Good morning to you too." He whispered sarcastically against her forehead as he kissed it gently. After a moments silence of Ava kissing Bucky's cheek and Bucky unknotting Ava's hair, she noticed the two boys run into the room. They obviously didn't notice them at first, picking up the shield to start playing games in the space.

"Hey!" Bucky called out to them, raising a hand to wave.

"Put it back! Hurry!" Ava could hear one of the boys say as they were quick to run from the room again. Bucky's hand dropped down to sit on Ava's hip and it wasn't long before they were both laughing at the two.

"Cute kids." Ava said as Bucky looked to the ceiling, the faint outline of a smile still very much present on his face.

"Cute kids." He whispered back, turning his head to look at the shield now lying on the ground. He stared for a moment, the smile faltering a little as he looked to be thinking about something, though it quickly returned when he sat up, pulling Ava onto his lap. "Time for the day, Avalanche."

Down at the boat, both Ava and Bucky climbed down to see Sam already at work. Once Sam saw Bucky there, he held out a rod for him to take.

"Push the stopper." He ordered as Ava moved round to watch the operation. It was nice to see them working on something together, something that obviously meant a lot to Sam.

"Thanks." Sam thanked Bucky, grateful for his help once more.

"Yep." Bucky answered as he walked past Ava to work on another part of the boat. Ava herself moved to sit on an empty table at the side, staying out of their work.

"Hey. Start loosening those bolts." Sam told Bucky as he passed him a spanner. Ava decided that her original plan of staying and watching them may be an issue in the long run and began to climb out of the boat back to daylight. She noticed some older men down the dock trying to lift some supplies off of one of the cars and ran over to be of some assistance. Grabbing hold of the corner of one of the crates, she lifted it before dropping it down the the ground.

"Thank you, miss." One of the men thanked her, beaming in her direction.

"It's nice to be helpful." Ava mentioned, dusting her hands on her trousers.

"Excuse me? No!" Ava heard a voice as she looked to see Sarah striding past her. Turning round, she saw Sam and Bucky now out of the boat sitting beside a piece of machinery.

"Give me a minute." Ava apologised to the man as she followed after Sarah past the hoards of people.

"I told you specifically that the water pump was not the problem, and yet, here you are." Sarah explained as Ava joined her side, peering down at the two with a smirk.