Kid, tell me what happened: The Sequel

time bombs don't stop beating

Peter Barnes had felt like a time bomb ever since he was born. An inanimate being that just existed for a dull purpose. To count down the number of days left till he breathed his last breath, and his eyes saw the cruel world for the last time. 

Because for him, everything is a void. A deep, vast void of nothing but pain and tears. 

Peter’s first memory was pain, in fact, the pain in his heart when rough hands threw him onto the floor and plunged needles as he squirmed and cried. He didn’t want any part of HYDRA, he didn’t ask to be given these abilities. Looking back, he would’ve been okay dying as an infant. He really would have. 

For the first two years of his life, all Peter knew was how to submit, and how to take pain exactly how his masters wanted it. Nothing less, and certainly, nothing more. He was forced to recite the bitter three phrase mantra that always rolled off his tongue like venomous poison, because that’s what it was. A cruel reminder of what his life, what his destiny was. And Peter hated it. 

When he was two years old, he was assigned his first cell, with his trainer. His trainer happened to be The Winter Soldier, known to carry no compassion and execute the mission report. But for the first time in decades, Bucky broke through James’ exterior at the horrors of what HYDRA had done to the child in front of him. 

The two-year-old was bathed in grime and had ashy marks under his eyes suggesting the abundance of tears that had streaked past there. Bucky knelt gently in front of the shivering child whose eyelids fluttered rapidly, suggesting that tears were threatening to fall. Bucky felt a wave of protection fall over him as he held his arms out, inviting the child to come closer to him. 

Bucky’s trained eyes fell over an overwhelming multitude of scars that littered the boy’s pale skin. The boy was small in comparison to him,  but every inch of skin was detailed in some sort of metal penetration. Bucky felt disgusted, he knew HYDRA was sick and manipulative, but to do this to a child, that was unspeakable. 

The child leaned as far away from him as possible and refused to meet gentle eyes as he spoke quietly, “Are you like them? Gon’ hurt me too?” 

Bucky approached the weeping child and planted him on his lap. He wrapped his flesh hand around the toddler as he rocked him, something his Ma had taught him oh so long ago. His metal hand was carefully rubbing circles across the boy’s trembling back. 

Bucky spoke softly, “I know you’re scared, I’m too. But it’s going to be okay, alright? I’m going to protect you and keep you safe. I got you, what’s your name bud?”

Peter didn’t fully comprehend the words Bucky was telling him, but he found himself trusting the metal-armed man since this was the first time he had received human contact and not been hurt within five minutes. So the toddler leaned his head against his chest, accepting the inviting warmth. He whispered softly as his eyes fluttered shut, “Peter.”

Bucky forced an enthusiastic smile over his face, and the gesture stirred memories of a certain scrawny blonde-haired man with glittering blue eyes and extended a hand, “Hello Peter, my name’s Bucky. We’re going to be okay, we have each other now, alright?”

Peter’s chocolate-colored eyes blinked back up to the predestined soldier, “Promise? Not gonna hurt Peter?” 

Bucky lightly chuckled, a sound that he hadn’t heard since well, forever. He gently patted Peter’s curly hair and replied solemnly, “Never Petey. We’re buds, I’m never going to hurt you, alright?”

Peter yawned, an indication that he was satisfied with that answer. Bucky cracked a half-grin as he carried the toddler when a problem hit him: Where would Peter sleep? The “bed” he had wasn’t much of a bed, and there was no way he was going to let someone as small as Peter sleep on the floor. And Bucky didn’t want to leave the kid alone, what if he had a nightmare, or was afraid of the dark? Bucky concluded, I guess he’s sleeping in my arms then.