Bucky's Roommate

Prologue

The streets were cold, wind nipping at any exposed skin, and Bucky tugged his jacket closer around himself. He supposed he should have been used to the lower temperatures, what with him spending enough time in Russia, but the weather only brought up bad memories. It reminded him of the time where he had no control over his actions, where he didn't even know that he was a person.

It was nearly two in the morning and the assassin's stomach was starting to clench with hunger. It had been a good few days since he had eaten, each day dedicated to just getting as far away from his nightmares as he could. None of the stores were open from what he could tell, the lights off and the doors locked.

Though it was not ideal, Bucky sat at one of the bus stops nearby, huddling in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest. His senses were on alert enough that, should anyone come near, he would wake up quick. He finally allowed himself to drift off to sleep, his eyes closing like thick curtains.

It wasn't long when Bucky was woken up and he lashed out instinctively before his eyes were even fully open. He looked up in time to see a man in a big sweater dive down to try and catch his laptop before it hit the sidewalk. The super soldier winced when he was unsuccessful, the plastic breaking and scattering across the walkway.

"Uh..." Bucky opened his mouth to offer an apology but leaned back in shock when the man just started sobbing on the floor. "Are you...?"

"My-My essay!" With desperate movements, he gathered up the pieces of the laptop together, trying to put them together like they were LEGO pieces. "My- Oh, wait, I used Google Docs." The tears abruptly stopped and he grinned, sitting on his butt on the sidewalk, "That really scared me for a moment."

Bucky felt very confused, wondering if the person in front of him was alright in the head. From the few words he gathered from all the sobbing, the man must have been in school and was working on a big paper. He seemed to be Latino with light fluffy brown hair, the tips a pale pink color, and he wore a big grey sweater and black sweatpants. Underneath circle-framed glasses were brown eyes with noticeable bags underneath them. "Are you okay?"

"Absolutely," He nodded, scooping as many of the broken pieces of his laptop in his purple fanny pack as he could. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

The man raised an eyebrow, "You're sitting at a bus stop with a thin jacket in New York when it's about to snow. Also, you look like shit. So. Are you okay?"

Bucky didn't know how to answer in the face of someone so blunt. That... In all the time he spent running from HYDRA, no one had ever asked if he was alright.

"Look," He continued when the other didn't answer him. "I'm shit right now, I have an essay due in, like, two hours, and my brain-to-mouth filter is shot. Let's go get a coffee over there," He pointed to a small café tucked in the corner of a building across the street. "And you can brood in a place that's warm. Also, I won't feel like a piece of shit for leaving you out here. So?"

The super soldier stared at the man in front of him, feeling out of depth. Still, the café looked warm and it really did look like it was going to snow. A coffee sounded amazing. "Alright, sure."

The man beamed, turning his fanny pack so it was resting on his hip, "Awesome! I'm Matthias but everyone just calls me Adel."

"I... Adel?"

"Yeah," He shrugged. "Matt is overused and Adel is part of my last name. It's Adelson, in case you were wondering."

Bucky nodded, "Okay then, Adel, I think I'll take you up on that coffee. I'm Bucky Barnes." He said his own name with a hint of confusion and possessiveness. He wasn't sure if it was his but he knew it wasn't anyone else's.

Adel held out a hand to help up the soldier, his grin bright and carefree, "Nice to meet you, Bucky Barnes."