Bucky wakes from his nightmare and reaches for Aleks, but she's not there. He looks around the room and finds her sitting in the window seat of their apartment. She sits with her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. She stares out the window, lost in thought.
Aleks jumps when he joins her, wrapping his arm around her. She relaxes into his side, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest. He begins running his fingers through her hair, soothing both of them.
"Another nightmare?" She asks.
"Yeah." He answers. "What about you? Why are you awake?"
"Nightmare." She replies. They sit in silence for a moment, neither wanting to talk about their nightmare but finding comfort in the other.
Bucky lifts her into his arms and carries her to the couch instead of the makeshift bed on the floor. He lays down and she presses close to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him before resting her head on his chest.
Aleks quickly falls asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, but Bucky stays up thinking. He knows they both go to their court-mandated therapy, but he doesn't think it's helping very much. Aleks only answers her therapist's questions with one-word answers, and he doesn't particularly like Dr. Raynor.
He sighs, wondering if they should finally work on removing the distance they'd been building between them and have a long conversation. He knows they're both struggling, but don't want to burden the other. He falls asleep, dreaming about a world where they hadn't lived such traumatic lives.
***
"Hey! Hey! Yori, what's goin' on? I thought we were getting lunch?" Bucky says as he interrupts the argument in the alley.
"Unique is putting his trash into my trash." He tells them.
"It's trash." Unique argues.
"And the time has come for me to smack-" He says.
"Whoa! Hang on." Bucky tells him, blocking his attempt at hitting the other man. Aleks chuckles, always having enjoyed his spirit.
"It's just trash." He repeats.
"Say it one more time." Aleks threatens, glaring at him. Bucky pulls her behind him and turns to the man.
"Hey, man. I'm Unique. It's like Monique, but it's got a 'U' in there for uniqueness." He introduces himself.
"That's absurd." Yori scoffs, walking further into the alley.
"If he loves trash so much, maybe he should change his name to Trash. A lot more special than Unique, don't you think?" Aleks tells him as she joins him, making him chuckle. Bucky apologizes to the man before he follows.
"Yori, you can't keep fighting with your neighbors." He tells him.
"No, go away." He replies.
"But Izzy. We always go to Izzy on Wednesday. Come on." He protests.
"I'm not in the mood today." Yori says.
"I can change your mind." Aleks tells him, moving in front of him. He looks at her, unimpressed. "We'll buy."
"Fine, but no talking." He agrees. Aleks laughs, poking Bucky's chest.
"Ha! In your face. I'm Yori's favorite." She says. He chuckles and rolls his eyes. Aleks loops her arm with Yori's and they lead the way.
"I don't have favorites." He tells them. He lowers his voice so only Aleks can hear. "You're my favorite." He assures her, making her laugh.
"Take a look." Yori says as he shows Bucky the newspaper. "Nobody made it past ninety this week."
"So young. Such a shame." He replies.
"You guys didn't order the usual, huh? Feeling a little adventurous?" Leah asks.
"I finally convinced him to try something new. He's so boring getting the same thing every time we come here!" Aleks exclaims.
"Hey! I know what I like." He defends.
"And this? How do you like this?" She asks, stealing a bite of his food. He sighs.
"I like it." Bucky tells her.
"Exactly! How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?" She says. "I've never found a food I didn't like." He rolls his eyes. "Yori, try some and tell me I'm right." She pushes his plate closer before realizing he's staring at something in front of him.
"What's wrong?" Bucky asks.
"My son...he loves the red bean mochi." Yori says in Japanese. "Um...He had a job with a consulting company." He continues in English. Aleks grabs her husband's hand, knowing his past with Yori's son. "And, uh, he was working abroad, and he was killed. The police said, 'Wrong place, wrong time', but...I will never know what really happened to him. I felt it was strange. In here." He pats his chest above his heart.
***
"Come on." Aleks says, holding her hand out. Bucky looks at her, confused. "We're going on a date."
"What? Now?" He asks. She laughs and nods.
"Come on." She says. He takes her hand and she pulls him to his feet, leading him towards the bedroom they never sleep in. He smiles when he spots the room set up for a movie night, a sheet hanging on the wall with a projector set up in front of it. The bed is covered with blankets and snacks. "What do you want to watch?"
"Have you seen Star Wars? That was on Steve's list. I don't know if he ever watched it, but everyone seems to love it." He replies.
"I haven't seen it." She tells him, pulling them up on her laptop connected to the projector. She gasps. "There's so much!" She exclaims, looking through all the options.
He laughs and they eventually decide on watching the original trilogy first, since they came out first. Aleks starts the movie before laying down. Bucky wraps his arms around her and pulls her to his chest, settling in to watch. After the first movie, Aleks falls asleep and Bucky chuckles, knowing it was going to happen.
Later, Aleks wakes to find a different Star Wars movie playing and Bucky nowhere to be found. She returns to the bedroom to turn off the movie, spotting a note on the pillow Bucky had been laying on. She sighs when she reads that he'd gone to Yori's, wishing he had brought her with him for support.
Aleks jumps up when she hears the front door opening, walking into the living room. Bucky shuts the door behind him and turns to look at her. She pulls him into her arms after seeing the conflicted expression on his face.
"What happened?" She asks after comforting him for a moment.
"I tried to tell him, but I saw a picture of his son in his apartment and I couldn't." He replies, keeping his face buried in her neck. Aleks gently pulls away, cupping his face as she looks at him.
"I know you're both hurting, but when you're ready, you'll tell him." She says. She grabs his notebook from his jacket pocket and opens it, pointing out all the names he's already crossed out. "Progress takes time, James. You can't rush healing." Bucky doesn't say anything, pulling her into his arms.
"I love you." He tells her. She pulls back and kisses him.
"I love you, James." She replies, stroking his cheek. The couple goes to bed, holding onto each other. For the first time in a long time, neither has a nightmare.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I haven't been as motivated to write lately lol
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The Spring Soldier | Bucky Barnes
FanficThe Spring Solider was HYDRAs secret weapon. As the only person able to calm and keep the Winter Soldier under control, she was an important asset. That was until they found out that the two had gotten closer than what was expected or allowed. Alek...
