Trauma

panic

After the realisation had hit, Bucky'd followed his boyfriend into the flat. He expected Steve to be in the living room, unwrapping the dog or something but he wasn't. In fact he was nowhere to be seen and neither was the dog. Or the towel. Where could they be? Where would you bring a pink, muddy and wet dog burrito?

"Steve?" , asked Bucky into the seemling empty flat. At first there was no response and he was about to ask again when he heard Steve's voice from the bathroom.

"Buck? I need your help!"

It didn't sound too urgent but there was an edge of desperation in Steve's voice. So Bucky made his way to the bathroom, curious what he'd find. He found the dog burrito unwrapped, the pink towel lying on the ground and the still half naked Steve trying to prevent Trauma from jumping out of the bathtub. While the dog had seemed to enjoy the little watergame outside in the garden it was quite obvious that he downright hated the idea of water coming from above. Because that was what was happening. Steve was dirceting the shower head at the muddy animal. Said muddy animal tried its best to escape the tub. And it did its very best to make Steve feel guilty by displaying pure suffering on its face.

Bucky couldn't help himself but laugh at the sight. It was too funny. He quit laughing though when Steve shot him a deathly look.

"Help."

That was one clear statement. And Bucky thought it to be better to do as, well, ordered.

One tough fight and a lot of water later both Bucky and Steve were wet to the bones and the dog was clean and wrapped up in a new blanket (a gray one).

"I feel like showering" , sighed Steve, wiping his hand across his sweaty forehead and looking down on the now gray dog burrito who seemed rather pleased with himself. And clean, finally. They didn't want to risk using a hairdryer on him though. It was loud and risky. The good thing was, that the dog had been so dostracted by the washing action that he hadn't heard the thunder which had occurred in decreasing intervals, shaking. For Steve and Bucky the thunder had seemed extra loud though. Every noise seemed extra loud to them and they observed every single movement their dog made and as a result of that they were tense in their movements and washing the dog had become even more of a challenge. That's why they had taken so long.

"I need a shower too, Steve, but I think we should wait until we can be sure that the thunderstorm is over. I wouldn't want to leave him alone with the noise and the flashy lights... Thinking of that... New year's eye will be a nightmare" , sighed Bucky. He felt sweaty and wet and disgusting, really. But now was not the time to be selfish.

A pet meant sacrificing some of your privacy and comfort. Okay, often all of your privacy, considering that many pets wouldn't even let you go use the toilet on your own. Trauma wasn't like that. He was independent and okay with being by himself. He had grown used to it. During the war he had barely ever been the centre of attention, guessed Bucky. Of course, the soldiers had probably been desperate for love and therefore taken every chance they'd gotten to snuggle with this dog but he must have been on his own a lot. Not physically, of course, but mentally. And the person he'd been with 24/7 while being stuck on the battlefield was gone now. He for sure thought that he was left to fend for himself even though he wasn't. That made him a special needs dog and that left Steve and Bucky having to sacrifice a lot of themselves. And they were aware of it.

"Okay, we'll shower later then. Together" , said Steve and he grinned mischievously.

Bucky wanted to, he really did. He could already feel some sort of looking forward burning in his stomach, but... He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to leave Trauma completely unsupervised. The last time they'd done so the dog had pooped in their kitchen and that had been followed by a mental breakdown. Nothing Bucky wanted to repeat ever again if he could prevent it. There went something else they'd have to sacrifice for now. But Bucky couldn't just tell Steve. So he grinned back and nodded.