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

Chapter 7: Valeriy Ayers - A Little Cup of Water (Part II)

.

.

.

"How 'bout we dry that hair of yours?" I offered and attempted not to react to his flinch.

I dug through the drawers and found the blow dryer.

'...Would this scare him...? Probably.'

It was loud. Even looked like the weirder guns found in cartoons and our labs. Wouldn't doubt Hydra had some funky looking weaponry either.

'Did they even have these way back when?'

I doubt Hydra bothered to blow dry his hair.

When I took hold of the towel, it was dry. No wonder he was soaking wet. I placed my free hand on his shoulder when he tried to get up.

"I'm too short to deal with your hair if you stand up. Turn around for me, will you?"

His head turned, his gaze dropping to my arm, and I held my breath, slowly retreating my hand. His hand snapped up so incredibly fast, his fingers wrapping around mine so softly that I couldn't comprehend a thing.

When I finally flinched, those blue eyes were set on mine. A question in them.

So very lost.

So very innocent.

Nothing like they usually were.

Barely even a trace of the haunted man who probably saw demons at every corner and the spaces between.

Offering the best smile I could, I curled my fingers to return the hold, pulled the towel off the rack and gently placed it on his head. Broken fingers were a possibility if he got scared.

"I'm going to just rub the towel against your hair, 'kay?"

At his nod, I took his flesh wrist in my free hand and pulled my fingers free.

"You can grab onto my elbow if you want."

And that was exactly what he did, as I sloppily tried to towel dry his hair. His eyes fell shut. His body tilted forwards. His head dipped down, hiding most of his face. His flesh hand still clung onto my left elbow, moving with me instead of putting any weight on my arm.

"You honestly suck at this," Eve laughed on the speakers.

I had to grind my teeth together and fake a smile, when Bucky's fingers clenched shut. Painfully. His eyes quickly searched the room before they landed on mine again.

"Shhh... That's just Eve. She's...."

I couldn't say harmless. That'd be a lie. Though, she's not going to do anything at the moment, hopefully?

"She's a friend."

"...Friend...?" he repeated, his hold loosening up.

"Yup. Eve, ummm, why don't you find us a movie to watch? Something... Uhh.... Nothing scary?"

I just hoped she caught on with the implied nothing to trigger him.

"I'll see what I can find."

Resting my hands on that warm head, I debated how to go about introducing the blow dryer to Bucky.

'Now or never, Val. He shouldn't sleep with a head of wet hair.'

I pulled his hand from my elbow, sending him a reassuring smile, and plugged the loud contraption in.

'I should get around to designing one of these things that don't make my ears fucking ring....'