Even if the stars don't shine

Safe

  She twisted her fingers together as she sat down on the couch. She was told to wait in her apartment and so she did, until the sun had long set. She took a long breath and did as she was told. She didn't know when she started taking orders from Samuel "Snap" Wilson, but here she was, twisting and fidgeting with the hem of her long sleeves.

  She rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen, as she did there was a knock at the door. She jumped, then tried to compose herself and walked back into the open-plan living room.

  She walked carefully toward the door when a quieter knock came, she opened it to Steve looking sheepish beside Sam who was already trying to see inside the place. Behind them stood a darker man, she couldn't get a very good look at him from behind the two big men so she instead focused on Sam.

  "Hey kid," he greeted her and glanced at Steve, waiting for him to take over.

  Steve seemed pale, something behind his eyes was still reserved about this endeavour. Almost as if he was expecting her to back out. "Lana, um, this is Bucky," he stepped aside for her to see him.

  He was tall, that was fairly obvious, his hair was wavy and just to his shoulders. When he looked up he had the most beautiful set of blue eyes she'd ever seen, that's including Steve's. He almost smiled when he saw her, a faded memory of something similar, it fell away.

  "Hey..." she said softly and felt an obligation to put out her hand. He took it slowly but her eyes instinctively went to his other, it was gloved. She let go of him and nodded, stepping back into her apartment. "Welcome kids."

  Sam immediately ran in to check it out. "Not, bad, not bad..." he commented as Steve assured Bucky he could come in after he already did.

  "The best with what I've got," she crossed her arms and shrugged.

  "Damn girl, you've got two bedrooms?" he sounded impressed and twisted around to see Steve closing the door behind them.

  Bucky looked out of place, then again, Lana would expect he looked out of place anywhere. His eyes at first had scanned the entire apartment then he cast them downwards, putting his hands in his pockets and seemed to have shut off.

  Lana tore her own eyes away from him and looked to Steve who was holding a black duffel bag, light. "Guest bedroom's there," she pointed to the middle door opposite the wall covering most of the kitchen.

  He quietly thanked her and walked toward it, followed by Bucky. As if Steve was his mother and he was dropping him off at camp, making sure he was would be nicely settled in and that his things were packed and in order.

  Sam pulled her arm toward the kitchen and hushed his voice. "Are you still sure about this? You can say no..."

  "I don't really think you can afford me to say no," she smirked and watched his face change to humour.

  "Yeah no, I can't... It'll be hard to get money to you-"

  "Don't worry about it too much, just enough to keep the electricity on and to eat like once a week, maybe..." she smiled at his, she hit his arm, "don't stress, we'll be okay."

  "Just a head's up, he's a quiet one..."

  She looked past him as Steve walked out the room, saying something short to the other man who didn't reply. "Yeah, I can see that."

  Sam clapped his hand down on her shoulder and grinned at Steve. "Alright then, this has been fun, thanks for babysitting," he shot a look to Bucky who he did the same, as if warning him. "I'll try and call, we'll be bouncing around for a while."

  "Understandable," Lana looked Steve up and down. "Bye-bye butterfly," she grinned at the old tradition and saw the sparkle in his eyes light up.

  "Give a hug, ladybug," he spread out his arms for her to walk into, he squeezed her tight and whispered in her ear. "Stay careful..." he warned.

  "Always," she whispered back and tugged herself away.

  He smacked Steve on the shoulder as he opened the door. Steve jutted forward and stuck out his hand to her. "Thank you for this-"

  She laughed and walked toward him. "Oh, Steve, we're already past that now," she hugged him and waited a second for him to do the same. "Keep in touch," she told him and pulled away. Sam knew her little habit of forming connections too quickly and feared for a moment that's what was going to happen here.

  Steve went to Bucky, said one last quiet thing that they couldn't hear which Bucky just nodded in return to. They left toward the door when Sam gave a comical wave and closed the door behind them. Lana chuckled childishly and suddenly looked toward Bucky who was pulling silence toward himself.

  She swayed back and forth for a moment. "Want something to drink?" she watched him look up with the pretty eyes. "Tea? Coffee?"

  He was looking down, he seemed impartial to either. He didn't look like he was going to answer at all.

  "Tea it is then," she smiled and walked to the kitchen. She heard him sit down slowly on one of the couches and flicked the kettle on. She took a few steadying breaths as she poured out the water into two cups, added what she needed and walked back out.

  His eyes were slowly shifting around the room, assessing each object he could carefully.

  She placed his mug in front of him and saw him look toward her to nod his gratitude, but he hesitated before picking it up. She had a feeling he knew she was watching him, she looked away as his eyes slowly gazed upwards again.

  God, this was awkward. She took a sharp breath, faintly grabbing his attention. "So, I heard from Sam that Wakanda's having some problems?" she started and looked up from her cup.

  He examined her curiously now, almost like he could read her mind. "The King was killed... he was an alley and the guy who overtook it isn't," a strange accent, not necessarily sounding akin to any particular region.

  She nodded slowly. "Shit... that's hectic, so what was it like?" she brought up her leg to sit on.

  His brows slightly lowered.

  "Living there, I mean..." she watched his hand take the mug, the ungloved one that wasn't hidden from her.

  "I was frozen for a while-" he saw her eyes widen, "from all the things HYDRA put in my head... it was best that I was put back in Cryo, it's uh- it's like freezing a body- that's what I know about it... there's probably a better explanation," he shrugged.

  She kept his eyes for a moment. "And afterwards?"

  He couldn't figure why she was interested. "I was woken up by Steve and Sam who dragged me out and got me away before the new ruler could find me and disapprove, I guess... it's amazing there," he added softly.

  "From what I've seen they're in somewhat of a financial crisis, is that why the King was overthrown?"

  He half smiled, only the smallest bit of humour crossed him. He couldn't tell her, it wasn't his secret to share. "Amongst other issues I don't really know. We didn't ask questions when we left..."

  She tried to smile and sipped her tea.

  "Are you sure about this?" he lowered his mug and looked between her eyes. Grey and neutral and strange.

  She smiled wider. "Why do people keep asking me that?" she chuckled. "You don't look so scary."

  "No, not like this..."