I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind | mcu x hp

They found us again

Summary: Late night chat about the never-ending threat of being found again and Starbucks.

Takes place between Black Panther and Infinity War.

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Gabrielle shot up in a cold sweat, her breathing heavy.

Nightmare.

She slowly got her breathing under control before looking around, seeing familiar things. Bucky lying next to her, a drawing one of the children in the village gave them hanging on the wall, her kimoyo beads sitting on the bedside table.

She took a shuddering breath. That felt too real. Her hand fiddled with her hair for a few moments before she decided to get up.

Sweatshirt, shoes, coffee.

She went to go sit by the lake, the full moon illuminating her way. The howl of a werewolf could be heard in the distance, but she didn't flinch. All the werewolves in Wakanda had access to free wolfsbane potion for the full moon, courtesy of the Wakandan magic-users (zomlingos, a voice that sounded a lot like Shuri corrected) who brewed potions.

There weren't many werewolves in Wakanda, only a few. The unfortunate souls who got bit by other werewolves were almost always War Dogs who were not careful enough. (Most of the War Dogs were zomlingos. Having magic was useful on those types of missions.)

Gabrielle put her coffee down on the ground next to her before she sighed. She absentmindedly braided a small bit of hair when she heard footsteps behind her. Bucky sighed quietly as he sat down next to his wife with his own coffee.

"Did I wake you?" Gabrielle whispered.

"No. Nightmare."

She nodded. "Me too."

Bucky put his coffee down and grabbed her hand. (Shuri hadn't gotten a chance to put his new vibranium arm on, so he was left with only his right arm. Neither of them minded.) "Do you want to talk about it?"

Gabrielle swallowed.

The silence of the night was cut by the occasional howl of a werewolf and hoot of an owl.

"James, they found us again." Her voice shook with fear. "They had new programming, new trigger words. They had new ways of torture and memory erasure. They had ways of making sure we couldn't escape again. They separated us, making sure that we couldn't see each other. It just felt so... real."

Bucky looked at the woman next to him and sighed. There was always the constant fear of HYDRA finding them again, even if they were in the safest country in the world.

"I can't say that they won't find us again, because then I'd be lying," he began. "It would be like saying the village children won't come running to our hut after school gets out on Cookie Thursday." Gabrielle gave a halfhearted smile. Bucky sighed before continuing. "That threat and fear will never go away, you and I both know that." He struggled to figure what else to say.

"We're just going to have to live with it?"

Bucky glanced up and their blue eyes met. "Yeah," he whispered.

Gabrielle managed to look away before a tear fell, but Bucky knew her too well to fall for that. He cupped her chin and turned her face toward him before he wiped the tear away with his thumb.

"Dont cry, dollface, you're too pretty to cry," Bucky whispered, trying to make her laugh. He smiled triumphantly when she laughed softly before sniffing and wiping another tear on her sleeve.

The silence was nice.

Gabrielle took another sip from her coffee before frowning at it. "I miss Starbucks."

"Oh, thank god," Bucky said, relieved. "Me too."

"Do you think we could convince T'Challa to let Starbucks have a place here?"

"Probably not." Gabrielle sighed sadly before Bucky continued. "But I think I heard Shuri talking to Okoye about having Starbucks for the first time."

"Did Okoye seem amused?"

"I know she's had it before, but I'm not sure about her opinion on it." Bucky shrugged. "I think Shuri might convince T'Challa if we talk to her."

Gabrielle grinned. "We're gonna get a Starbucks."

"We're gonna get a Starbucks," Bucky agreed as he finished his coffee.

They never got a Starbucks. 😔