Bucky's Roommate

Chapter 14

"I've been wondering," Adel began from where he was brushing Bucky's soft brown hair. He wasn't used to touching quite yet but he had taken an absurd liking to playing with the soldier's hair, not that Bucky was complaining. "When do you plan on seeing Captain America?" He rolled his eyes at the way his friend tensed and pinched his right shoulder. "It's only a matter of time before the oaf finds out and I shudder to think of what Stark might do once the whining kicks in."

Bucky blinked, digesting the words said to him. "Oaf?" He said because that was the first thing his mind latched onto. He turned to look at his friend. "You don't like Steve?"

"Chulo, I don't like America."

"Oh, okay. To be honest, I don't know when I'll be ready. He'll start hovering and- what if he tries to keep me away from you?"

Adel tilted his head, confusion lingering in his eyes as if that possibility had never occurred to him. "Is that your primary concern?"

Bucky nodded, not bothering to hide how he felt since Adel's family had temporarily migrated to the front lawn so that the tiny children could play. He could hear them down below, laughing as they ran around while their parents talked. "It's one of them."

"Then you have nothing to worry about because Steve Rogers holds no power over you or me." Adel truly did look unbothered, the quirk of his lips saying that he was more amused by the idea than anything.

"There's something I've been wanting to know... When we first met, why did you try and eat so much stuff if it really bothers you? You ate cereal and pizza, and you drank coffee."

Adel leaned back in his chair for a moment, drumming his fingers on his thighs. "That's easy; I had to pretend. People are easily comforted by those that fit in what they view as normal- eating, sleeping, drinking. The simple stuff. It takes some time before you can introduce something out of the ordinary and, even then, it's tricky business."

Bucky hummed and nodded. "That makes sense, but I wouldn't have cared. No, really," He said at his best friend's look. "I got my problems, too. If you just told me what was up, I would've been fine. What're we going to do about the other Avengers?"

"We're going to go about our days how we normally do. I'm already working with Mr. Beckett on a few ideas. When we have anything solid, I'll let you guys know. We were thinking about temporarily moving to a different part of the complex but, since the Avengers don't know exactly which apartment we live in, it'd be pretty useless. We can't move to a whole different place because, frankly, we're both broke as fuck."

"And we can't stay here because you're in college and we wouldn't want to put your family through our bullshit."

"True that. So, until we can come up with a better plan, we'll just chill and be normal... Whatever the hell that is."

Bucky nodded, standing up to stretch his arms over his head. "Alright, so we lay low. We've been doing an alright job of that so far."

Adel frowned at him for a moment. "Except where you registered to vote using a dead guy's social security number."

"Not my best moment but it was for a good cause."

The Latino patted the assassin's head patronizingly before bopping downstairs to his mother's kitchen fridge to inspect its contents. For someone who couldn't taste anything but ash and dust, he was remarkably good at putting together elaborate meals out of nothing. "You worry too much," He said as he peered inside one of the many containers. "Relax, we'll be fine."

x

Saying goodbye to the entire hoard was probably the hardest thing Adel and Bucky had ever done, and it wasn't because they were really going to miss a lot of them. It was because everyone had collectively decided to begin their interrogations into the pair's lives like they had planned it beforehand. Despite the fact that Bucky was the newest guest they had, the hoard was fairly tame with their questions, and he didn't feel his anxiety affect him too much.