Hawkeye: Agony

By Your Side

'Ah! What is that?!' I exclaimed, swatting at the metal fingers that were gently resting over my eyes.
As quickly as they fell from my face, a weight shifted from the bed.
I turned to see Bucky, mid leap, falling out of the bed, before landing on the floor in a crouch to stare at me.

For a moment, we just stared at each other before his lips mouthed, 'Sorry...'
I looked between him and the amount of space I'd left for him and joked, 'You really needed all that room?' with a raised eyebrow.

I had to chuckle to stop him from stuttering then looked around for a clock.
It was around 3am, possibly one of the only hours of the morning that I'd actually be asleep.
I looked towards him and nodded for him to get back into the bed, 'You're fine. I'll know for next time that it's you and not some metal snake or something.'
'You thought it was a snake?' He managed with a small; confused smirk as he stood.
'Well I mean, what else could it be? An octopus?'

I paused for a moment when I saw him climb back in: he was wearing fresh clothes, and I still had the paper, sodden prison uniform dried against my flesh.
'Hey where did you_?' I sighed, not really being arsed to get changed, only to wake again in a couple of hours.
I looked down and tore off the gown and then shuffled back down into the bed in my shorts.
'G'night,' I murmured into the pillow.

There was a long pause before the eyes burning into the back of my head started to get uncomfortable, and I realised he wasn't going to lie down.
I sat up again and turned to look at him.
'... You need me to put some pants on?'
Bucky blinked a little, his face turning a bit red, 'N_No?'
'Can I er?' I nodded back to the bed.
'No!' He added quickly, 'I mean, I want to... talk, and um.. I can't when you're, you know?'
I turned to face him fully, sitting cross-legged and putting my hands in front so he could watch me signing along, even if he didn't understand it.
Bucky slowly turned the same and we sat face to face, staring at each other with piercing sight through the darkness.

'Are you okay?' I smiled, 'It has been a long few months..' I rounded out my words to match my signs: seeing his eyes following my hands, trying to learn and copy like his training had taught him.
He looked back into my eyes so that I could read his lips, 'Why are you so.. comfortable with me? And my arm? It's a weapon. I'm a weapon. I've tried to kill you before, and I could have killed you just then.'
'It was a mistake!' I chucked.
'But what if it wasn't?!'
I could feel the fear in his tone and the frantic panic in his eyes.
'You've been like this since we met. Careless.'
I stared at him a little before responding, 'My job is to see what everyone else doesn't. You don't think I see James Barnes behind those eye bags and the nightmares and that metal arm?'
I smiled, 'And anyway, I've watched you change. I think Hydra not being able to get to you has given you time to rest your head. I don't think that the Winter Soldier is inside of you anymore.'
I smiled weakly, 'And if a small part of him is, well I think I can take him.'
Bucky frowned a little at that, 'You didn't exactly fight off that snake.'
'Well..!' I stammered with a chuckle, hands coming together without any words to explain myself.
I thought for a beat and then took his metal hand in both of mine and smiled, 'I guess I'm just not afraid of it.'

Bucky blushed, staring at his hand in mine, then looked up a little to say, 'Teach me.'
'What can I teach you?' I chucked but tilted my head a little with intrigue.
'To understand you. Sign language.'
I looked a little confused, 'Why? Don't I talk very well...? I kind of knew it.'
He stammered again quickly, 'No no no.'
'I saw you in the prison, when no one could talk to you. You became a shell of yourself... I don't want that to happen here,' He added, 'And I'm trained to learn languages pretty quickly, so...'
I smiled a little as he continued to try to explain himself, 'You don't have to do that for me,' I smirked, 'And anyway, you can't learn this the same way.'
'Try me,' He smirked a bit.