Mosaic (Bucky Barnes X OC / Winter Soldier x OC)

Chapter 5: Valeriy Ayers - Soggy Spaghetti (Part I)

Author's Note:

I'm always trying to improve my ability to pull a person into a character's headspace or feel their emotions, and your feedback will help me know if what I'm trying for is working or not. Even an emoticon or button smashing tells me something useful and can influence what I write more or less of.

I respond to all comments and it's always fun to hear your thoughts ^^

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Rolling away from the stream of sunlight, I sighed heavily. I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.

"What time is it?" I asked, pulling on a large shirt and wiggling into a pair of shorts.

"It's around noon. Mr. Barnes finally decided to settle down. Spent hours asking questions since you went to sleep."

"Oh?" I hummed, crawling out of bed and hobbling to the bathroom to clean up for the day.

"Asked about a bunch of the stuff in the kitchen and food. Left him with the laptop and he's been looking into hauntings and poltergeister."

"Holy fuck! Eve, is this house haunted?!"

"Not that I know of. There's no bad history. Haven't brought anything funky into the house. Never saw or heard anything in the in the nine years I've had this place. Anything else that makes a place haunted?"

"I don't know. Shit luck and or a burial ground? You're the one who's connected to the internet."

"He probably thinks I'm a ghost still. Briefly searched up artificial intelligence before all this paranormal research."

"Wouldn't blame him. Even Amber and Devon were unsettled when they first went into one of our houses. Yo, you got any crutches here? This hopping hurts...."

And it was extremely slow for how much energy it uses.

"That's what I've been forgetting. I'll arrange for it to be delivered."

"...Did you put him up to befriending me?" I finally asked, before shoving the toothbrush around in my mouth.

"If I were the type to force people befriend you, you'd have a lot more friends, and you'd be better protected. I only set up things to place him at the park and hoped for the best.... He knew less than you did about the kidnapping...."

I had my suspicions, and if I hadn't become so paranoid over the years, I'd have no idea.

"I honestly rather you have not befriended the man. He's dangerous. The people after him are infinitely worse. Everyone is after him. Lucky for him, most of them are scrambling to get an idea of the Winter Soldier's identity. You do not want to get involved with the people who had him for the last seventy years. They're not above coming after you to get to him."

I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed my mouth. "What's new? There are already people after me."

"They're dangerous, Val."

"...Can you keep them away from him?"

"...Valeriy."

"Eve. Are you able to keep him safe on your own?"

"Yes. Of course. But it wouldn't be without incident, and I'm not putting my people at risk for him. With his arm fixed, he'll be able to protect himself. The fact that he doesn't want to kill... it puts him at a disadvantage. Those people would stop at nothing to get him. He's too useful."