James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
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"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
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Bucky wasn't with me when I woke up, half an hour before my alarm. Unusual.
I laid there and listened for him, relieved to hear him moving around the kitchen. He must've just gotten up early.
I winced when I stood up on my ankle, but it was manageable. After getting ready for work, I hobbled my way into the kitchen. Bucky was standing at the stove, moving scrambled eggs from a pan onto two plates that already had bacon on them. I stood in the entryway to watch him for a second, even though I knew he must've heard me get up.
"You okay?" he called. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah," I said. I went over to him as he refilled my water bottle. He must've gotten it out of my bag. I hugged him from behind, since he didn't turn around.
"Hey," he said. He enclosed my hands in his metal one, like he was trying to keep my arms around him. I didn't mind. "How do you feel? I was gonna bring you this."
"You were gonna bring me breakfast?" I asked happily.
"Yeah. Thought you might be hungover." He turned around to face me, and I moved away from him so he could hand me a plate and my water. We sat at the kitchen island. I couldn't figure out if I was still mad at him for walking out on me last night.
"I would've made you coffee, but I know you get it from Stark's machine, and I still don't understand that thing. What the fuck does the giant green button in the middle do?"
"That's the Hulk button. I think that amount of caffeine would actually kill me."
"Why would anyone need that?"
"Maybe you or Steve? But neither of you ever use it. Maybe if Thor was around? He definitely would."
"We all already have increased stamina."
"I know. Hot."
He sent me an exasperated look.
"You, not Steve and Thor," I added.
"Yeah, okay."
"This is one of the grumpiest old man conversations I've ever had with you."
"There's no reason for it to be that high tech," he argued, circling back. "It's just coffee, right?"
"I didn't know you felt so strongly about it," I said. "You're gonna be so mad when you find out I've been working on a program to make it scan our fingerprints and automatically make what we like."
"Doll..." He sounded so disappointed. "Why? Life is not supposed to be that convenient."
"I can't help it. If I can save ten seconds of my day, then I'm slowly prolonging the amount of my life that I get to enjoy. It's like tasting a hint of immortality. I feel like a mad scientist on the precipice of expanding my meager allotment of human existence."
