Edelweiss || Bucky x Reader

Chapter Fifty

After lunch Bucky and I split up with Steve so I could get clothes that actually fit me. There was something so fresh about feeling fabric on my skin and knowing it could be mine. Seeing myself in a dressing room mirror and realizing that it only mattered if I liked it, because I don't live to please anyone other myself anymore. Experiencing modern styles up close instead of through brief glances through tinted goggles. When we were all done, Bucky walked out of Macy's with a bag holding three pairs of pants, four shirts, two bras, and underwear in one hand, my hand in his other. New converse had been laced up around my previously bare feet.

"Fist post-Hydra milestone complete!" He announced with a kiss to my cheek. "You wanna celebrate with dinner?"

"That'd be great." I said, realizing that it was much later than I'd thought while surrounded by the aggressive fluorescent lights of mass retail. "I'm kind of done with people, though. Could we just grab a slice of pizza? I've never actually had it before."

"Oh you've gotta try New York pizza." He said with a laugh. "First thing Steve made me do when I escaped Hydra."

"Can we watch the sun set?" I had asked. "I feel like that's something we used to do."

"...yeah," He chuckled softly. "Yeah, I think it was."

And so that's exactly what we do.

We sit against the concrete barrier separating us and the speeding cars, looking over the east river as the sky turns orange. My head sits comfortably in the crook of his neck. His arm is hooked around my waist, his fingers trancing small circles on my side. On our laps sits a half eaten pizza pie, warm against our legs as the air temperature drops with the setting sun.

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten." I mumble through a mouthful.

He sighs contently at the ombré of warm colors in front of us.

"The world's so pretty when it's not making your life a nightmare." His voice comes soft and surprisingly wise.

"I guess it's alright." I smile, letting myself hope for a second. Enjoying the innocence of the changing sky. The oblivious beauty of the truth that it will always change, because the world will always spin. I can rely on so little. But at least we can come back here, both of us, and rely on that.

Too quickly I'm pulled from pleasant thoughts by a round fat raindrop landing rudely on my arm.

I lift my head from Bucky's shoulder and groan, "Come. On."

Wordlessly, he drapes his jacket over my shoulders.

"Let's head home?" I ask, glancing up at him and then back to the now indigo sky.

"Let's." He says, standing and helping me up.

We hail a cab and head home, the rain turning to a stead pour by the time he opens the door to our apartment. We nod to the agents standing watch and shut it behind us with a click.

I set the bag of my new clothes down and stretch as he takes off his jacket.

It takes a moment, but I quickly sense something is off.

The rain... it's still too loud.

I look to the kitchen window and see the blinds are up and the window itself is wide open.

It wasn't like that when we left

"Get back." I say to Bucky as I walk to the window, careful to avoid the moonlight spilling into our dark apartment.