one-shot collection [multi-fandom]

Night Breezes || Bucky Barnes

He'd only ever caught glimpses of them. A flash of hair, a shuddering sigh, a light scent he could not place.

Every night he'd dream of them. Was it a memory, or something his mind used to torture him? As if his waking dreams weren't haunting enough. Faces filled his vision, faces of the dead or dying. Men. Women. Children. People he's killed. Was this mysterious being another of his victims?

He dreaded to think.

Unlike his other victims, however, he could remember the ghosting feeling of them.

Under his palms, a textured wool, course, yet smooth in patches from everyday wear. Between his fingers, smooth hair, ruffled and slightly knotted from the wind, but not full of gel. Hands, slightly calloused, yet daringly delicate, pressed against the side of his neck. Lips, chapped and tender, caressed by his own.

These memories, these dreams, they were too solid to be his mere imagination, yet they always danced just out of his reach. They flittered across his mind like a hummingbird on a clear spring morning, unable to stay still long enough to catch a firm grasp, yet always within view, enough to admire from afar. They were like sweets in a bakery, close enough to admire, too far away to taste, and he was afraid of the cost of what it would take to finally sink his teeth into these dreams of a long-forgotten lover.