Stasis || Bucky Barnes (1)

Twenty four

Basil woke to hands patting down his chest. He groaned and blinked, vision blurry and disorienting. There was something wet on his face and his head was pounding. It hurt worse than his hangover on Christmas eve before he signed up. He groaned again and blinked as his vision began to focus. He dimly recognised Steve in front of him. The man was visibly panicking, hands still patting down Basil's chest.

"There's no blood. Why is there no blood?"

"I'm pretty sure my head is bleeding", Basil slurred he winced. "Ouch".

Steve flipped open Basil's jacked and stopped. He sat up a bit and laughed in disbelief. The noise high with hysteria and exhaustion. Basil reached out to the place he had been shot. He felt the bullet hole in his clothes but his chest wasn't hurting. It felt like it had been bruised but not nearly enough pain for a bullet wound. Steve looked at him with wide eyes. "Fucking hell Basil. You must be the luckiest sucker alive". He laughed again and helped him sit up.

Basil's head pounded but the impact must not have been as severe as he first thought. He must have only been unconscious for a few minutes. He looked down at his chest. No blood, no pain. Just a round bullet hole in his uniform. His hand twitched as he reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out the two books he had been keeping in there. Over the months the little notebook which had only been half an inch thick before had grown thick with letters from his brother. Thick enough that it barely stayed closed now. His battered copy of Frankenstein wasn't small either. It was only about fifteen centimetres in length but that meant that the amount of words had made it thicker. Basil pulled them both out and held them up in surprise. There, right through the middle of them was a round bullet hole. He turned them both round and on the back of the leather bound notebook was a tiny hole where the top of metal bullet poked through.

Basil began laughing. A cackle drunk on adrenaline and relief. Once he started he couldn't stop. His head was hurting and he could still feel blood dripping down his face but his mouth was wide as he giggled. Steve chuckled and pulled him onto his feet. Basil stumbled. Adrenaline making him jittery and dizzy. Steve let him lean on him. "The men are going to love this", he murmured as Basil continued giggling. "Bucky!" Steve shouted as he waved.

In the distance the familiar form of Bucky was running towards them. As he got closer he slowed to a jog and eventually stopped. His blue eyes were wide and he was panting, his sniper rifle hanging over a shoulder. "I saw Parrish go down on my scope. What happened?" He crossed over and Steve propped Basil up so that Bucky to check over him.

"Basil here is the luckiest bastard ever", he declared in amusement.

"I got shot in the chest", Basil laughed. He gestured to the hole in his jacket then held up his books, waving them at Bucky as he and Steve snorted.

Bucky took in the hole in Basil's jacket then he turned to the books. His eyes widened and he sighed in relief. "Jesus Christ Parrish", he muttered with a grin. He held out his arms and let Basil lean on him as Steve picked up their fallen gear. "You gave me a right scare there. Thought we'd have to replace our medic".

Basil giggled and rested his head on Bucky's shoulder, the bump still sore. "Don't worry Sarge, I'm pretty hard to get rid off".

Bucky chuckled. "Yeah you're a goddamn cockroach. Come on. Let's get that cut seen too". They continued walking towards the gates and away from the ruins of the hydra base.

——

The rest of the howling commandos found the whole scare as funny as they did. All of them took glances at the hole in Basil's uniform and books as they ate their dinner of rations. "Bloody hell", Monty remarked. "The chances of that".