Mosaic (Bucky Barnes X OC / Winter Soldier x OC)

Chapter 33: Valeriy Ayers - Shorts (Part III)

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Flying squirrel versus enhanced skin. Wonder which would win out?

Hopefully Bucky.

Please be Bucky.

Did not want to find out the results of rabies verses Bucky.

"Where are you going?" he called out after me as I stood up.

"I'll just be a moment. I need my tools and Amber's blends."

'And my fucking shorts. I need my fucking shorts....'

"Are those safe for him?"

"...Yeah?"

"The knockout blend we use won't overdose anything," Eve explained, while I race for my room. "We've used it on smaller mammals before. It's been designed to be used on most creatures with no side effects. The dosage merely dictates how long he'll sleep for. Having his weight and leng –"

"111 grams. 25.3 –"

And the door shut behind me with a fwhump.

'Shorts, shorts, shorts. Oh my god, where are my fucking shor – Why are they up there!?!'

Hanging off the corner of a binder too high for me to even reach.

When Eve played asshole and refused to rotate the shelves down, I abandoned them, rushing to my closet for another pair. I may or may not have stumbled over a pillow or three on my way to cover my ass.

Buying a few seconds from what I didn't want to do, I carefully removed the panel filled by pink and blue bioluminescent snapdragons from my precious living wall. Behind the panel sat a stash of Amber's blends. In case of emergencies. But these were closer than the stock in the basement.

All that's left was that damn dented toolbox.

Hated the queasy flop in my gut at the mere sight of it. Or the pile of binders stacked in front of it. It's too early in the morning for this shit, and the last thing Bucky needed right now was my attempt to hide my unease behind anger.

The screams. The tiny little yelping screams that filled my ears when Eve opened the door. Highly doubt any of that did any good for Bucky's stress. Or the flying squirrel's.

So it didn't matter if I irritated the fissures of my healing ankle, again. I ran, dropping down next to him.

"One more minute, Bucky. It'll be one more minute."

His eyes screamed out in silence to do something. Anything.

My hands couldn't sift through the toolbox faster for the right chemicals and a small baggy. I could stop the screams in a minute or less. Just had to get the chemicals reacting.

His head bobbed tiredly. Bucky didn't seem to be sinking into bad memories. He focused on trying to block the squirrel's teeth with the leather glove that usually hid his cybernetic. A PRO juice coated leather glove.

'...Please tell me that PROs are animal safe.... If this squirrel ends up dead.... Please just be a dream.... Yup, please be a dream.'

"Just a little longer."

"...What is that for?" he asked, maybe hoping for the smallest of distractions.

"An outward reaction thingy."

"Exothermic reaction. The word you're looking for is exothermic. How do you not – You love your explosives."

Bucky's arm shot straight up, squirrel still glued to him, before his cybernetic plucked the baggy from my fingers. Tossed it right into the basement.

"...."

I quickly shoved the same stuff into another baggy, massaging it to help the mix of powders. Chasing after the one in the basement would take longer, which the new one now joined... in the basement.

"...I didn't make an explosive reaction."

"You're the explosives expert," he pointed out.

"...I ratioed the chemicals for a heat pack...."

"Maybe you should have said that in the first place."

"Maybe I forgot what they were called until a second ago," I snapped back, now making a third pack. "Why didn't you come up –?"

Bucky's head dropped forward, his forehead resting on my shoulder. Just the lightest of touch. None of his weight transferred to me. A shaking breath rattled in his lungs.

"How much knockout for the little guy?" I asked softly, letting go of the bickering. Barely managed to catch myself before planting a kiss on his temple, instead my head leaned against his.

"It's about a drop per hour for his size."

I bit my tongue on asking why the hell I took out the scale to measure nothing and dropped a single dot of liquid on the heat pack to turn it gaseous. Waiting for everything to do its job, I threw a towel over the squirrel and Bucky's hand. Didn't need to get any sleepier than I already was.

The unsettling screams stopped in about a second. In another, all the struggles calmed to steady breathing.

The fingers of my good hand threaded through half soft and half sticky hair. "You with me?"

Bucky gave the tiniest nod, moving in closer. His left arm twitched towards me, but he shifted away altogether.

"Let's get you off the squirrel, shall we?" I said, lifting up the towel.

While searching through my toolbox for anything of use, I picked up the heat pack and pressed it to Bucky's chest. Something to keep him warm. Counteract that wet hoodie. The juice wasn't helping with the warmth.

The confused twist to his face while he moved his cybernetic to hold that heat pack in place was adorable. The way he tried to avoid touching my hand, less so.

'...Okay, that's a nope on the scalpel.'

Cutting Bucky was at the top of things not to do. Or maybe it was just below giving the squirrel another cut. Somehow had the sinking feeling that cutting the squirrel would do more damage to Bucky than anybody else, squirrel included.

'Acetone is... probably not going turn out well for the squirrel, so... nope.'

If anything, squirrel had to survive this.

'Needle tool...? Oh! This might work.'

"I'm going to just pick at your skin and remove the glued layer ... or something..." I told him.

"Why... am I holding this to my chest?" Bucky asked, nudging at the makeshift heat pack.

"To keep you warm...?"

"...." He dropped the bag to pick up the scalpel.

"Bucky?! What are you – oh shit!"

And he sliced right through the mess of glue, blood, fur and fingers. Two smooth swipes that were a tad too blurry from how fast he moved. With the twitchy ass cybernetic.

When he moved his fingers away from the squirrel, a drop of blood landed on the makeshift table. Exactly what I wanted to avoid.

At least the squirrel was fine, minus the original wound.

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Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this part, please consider leaving a vote. They're very much appreciated. ^^

And a big thank you to TinselA/Bunny Carrot (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7591081/) and the Anonymous Fifth Beta for Beta-ing this chapter.