2023
It's been several months since Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff gave their lives to bring back the trillions murdered in the decimation.
In the wake of the post - apocalyptic clean up, and the entirety of the universe adjusting to home the life...
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• • •
I was looking for you last night in my dreams I was running to you to save me from these terrible things
Sleeping with Sirens, Another Nightmare
• • •
F O L L O W I N G Bucky's first encounter with Charlie Grant, the days seemed to fly by. August bled into September and soon early October began. The leaves in the trees were beginning to turn into beautiful shades of oranges, yellows, and reds. Summer had finally said goodbye, and fall was welcomed.
Barnes fell into a bit of a routine. He would wake early in the morning and spend the next few hours jogging. He learned the ins and the outs of the small New York town, and while he often tried not, his feet always seemed to carry him into the shop. He liked the coffee; and how quiet the place was.
It wasn't until the third or fourth visit that he had sat himself down at the back table and relaxed a bit in the warm atmosphere. He almost always grabbed the local newspaper and would read every word; something he had done many decades ago.
He would drink his coffee and eat whatever breakfast pastry he chose for the day.
And it was Charlie who served him every time. He soon grew to look forward to the visits, though they had only been a few times.
He enjoyed it; all of it.
Charlie fell into a pattern herself. She was up with the sun, getting Oliver to school, and then working until he got out of school. Then she would be off to bring him home; because they couldn't afford a babysitter and Oliver was too young to stay by himself.
But she enjoyed it; she liked being home early in the afternoon. She would help Oliver with his homework, take care of the household chores, and even begin to draw again. She was happier than she had been in a very long time.
She would hang out with Addie, who had become one of her closest friends after the decimation. Addie had lost her parents in it and was left to fend for herself. She was only nineteen when it happened, and after her parents were gone, she would have ended up on the streets if Charlie had not welcomed her in.
Though now she lived with her parents again, they were still close friends. Charlie had helped Addie get the job at the coffee shop to start saving up to go back to school.
Charlie had already finished.
She was happy too.
• • •
It was a Saturday morning when Bucky found himself walking into the coffee shop. The sun was still low in the sky and it was barely nine in the morning. It was a bit busier than during the weekdays, but not by much.
The only one he recognized behind the counter was Addie; though he hardly ever talked to her. His eyes roamed the shop for a moment before he realized that she wasn't there, and he didn't how to feel.
But Addie smiled when she saw him. "Hey!" She was always a happy person. Especially now.
"Hi." Bucky smiled small and politely at her.
"Black coffee and a muffin?" Addie asked; everyone knew his usual by now.
"Please." His voice was deep but very quiet, as his blue eyes looked around the back of the counter. He wondered why she wasn't there today; she seemed to be there every day. Perhaps it was her day off, or maybe she worked later.
When the transaction was processed and he left with his coffee, he told himself not to go back to the shop for a few days. He thought he seemed creepy and maybe that's why she wasn't there. Perhaps she had switched her schedule around so she wouldn't have to see him.
Then he realized he was being stupid, and he stopped thinking about the woman.
