With Him | Bucky x Reader | Enemies with Benefits

-82-

Bucky's POV:

As I turned a corner I was met with a familiar sight, rows and rows of windowless cells, harsh lights shining down on them and their inhabitants. Well, inhabitant. 

I ran down the hall, searching for the one-occupied cell, looking for the person who needed help. My mind flickered back to night after night where I had been tossed in a similar cell after some kind of testing or experiment. I knew what this was like, I couldn't let someone suffer alone. 

After eighty-three empty cells, I was losing faith. Maybe I was imagining this, was there anybody actually here? Was I checking them well enough? The lighting in the cells themselves was dim and often flickery. 

That's when I saw him.  

Right in the corner of the room. 

Bloody and sleeping in the foetal position. 

Sounds of pain coming from the hunched-up child in front of me. 

Grabbing a piece of wire I had in my pocket (you never know what you might need on a mission) I picked the lock on the door and opened it slowly. 

"Hey..." I said calmly, walking slowly towards the kid. 

It could be a trap but I have to help him. 

As I got closer I noticed him shivering, at that moment I cursed myself for not wearing more layers so that I could give one to him. 

"Hey, Kiddo..." 

I rested my hand on his shoulder, turning his body to face me, and shook him gently to try and wake him up. Thankfully, his eyes fluttered open. 

"Hi, heya...you ok?" 

The boy looked at me, confusion in his eyes. I heard him mumble but I wasn't sure what he said. 

"Hello?"  

He looked at me with confusion again, "Что?" (What?) 

Ohhh. Of course, he spoke Russian, we were in Russia after all. 

"Привет, кто ты?" (Hi, who are you?) I said, keeping my voice soft as the young boy stared at me with wide eyes. 

"Я?" (Me?) He asked, barely louder than a whisper. He looked so afraid that my heart hurt. This wasn't a trap. 

I nodded and smiled at him. 

"Я Ваня." (I'm Vanya) He said cautiously. I could tell that despite only being seven or eight years old, the boy didn't trust me. He was also worryingly malnourished for a boy that age. His hair was a long greasy mess, just as mine had been and he had the same tired look in his eyes. He had already been through too much. 

"Ваня или Иван?" (Vanya or Ivan?) I asked I wanted him to feel as safe as possible.  

Apparently, he mistook my attempted kindness for stupidity because he just glared at me. 

"Я Ваня. Ты?" (I'm Vanya. You?) He demanded. I couldn't blame him, I would have done the same. 

"Bucky, do you speak any English?" I inquired.

"Little, little." Vanya replied. I nodded, taking in all the information.

"Steve, can you hear me?" I said through comms. The only reply I got was fragments of his voice, which was not enough to make a distinguishable sentence.

"Vanya? Can you come with me?" I questioned, standing up to encourage him to follow.

"Но...моя Мама?" (But...my Mama?) He whispered, his voice far shakier than before. He pointed to the also hunched up body in the corner of the room, clothes so dirty with coal or soot that I had mistaken her for part of the shadows. 

"Ma'am? Мэм?" (Ma'am?)

I walked over to her body, unlike her son, she wasn't moving. I couldn't even see the rise and fall of her chest, this did not bode well... Placing two fingers against her exposed jugular, I knew almost immediately from her cold, waxy skin but I waited just to check. I was right.

I took a moment to think. Vanya looked so tired, now wouldn't be a good time to tell him. Once we got out of the base and found Steve, then I would tell him.

"Твоя мама спит. Хорошо?" (Your Mama's asleep. Okay?) 

Vanya said nothing, he just looked sad. He attempted to stand but didn't make it far before his leg fell out from underneath him. He got up and tried to walk again, and again before I had a chance to go back to him and offer to pick him up. He was hesitant at first but eventually agreed.

As I walked us out of the cell and back, up the stairs and back to the first corridor I made sure to have my gun ready. The mission wasn't over yet. 

(751 Words)