it slows down;

[bracchium]

CHARACTERS: Bucky, you!
WHERE: The Red Coast!
WHEN: Day 026 morning and evening
SUMMARY: the bucket wakes up from his long nap
WARNINGS: mentions of violence, etc


[For Sam]

[Where there was once silence on Bucky’s end of the link, a slow, piercing scream takes its place. The shriek cuts in and out like static on a bad radio, but soon becomes steady and constant. Accompanied by gusting snow and biting wind, the noise grows and doubles before falling into disorganized static once more. Silence threatens to take hold, to swallow up all the discordant pieces. The brush of fir and pine sweep through the snow, but do little to provide structure to the quickly tumbling sections of awareness.

What’s happening? he doesn’t think out loud, but for some reason he doesn’t think he has to speak out loud. His lips are numb, dry, and stuck shut. He can’t seem to get them to move. Or perhaps they aren’t his lips after all.

His body is off balance, he considers. One side is heavier than the other, but he doesn’t know why.

Or who he is.

Who… who is he? Why does he feel like he’s drowning?]



[OTA; day]


[Bucky is never far from Sam, that much has not changed, but Bucky is quieter than before. Not only does the change in scenery make his head hurt, but there’s still too many missing pieces of his head right now. Still, he wants to check in on those he speaks with the most, even if that conversation might be one-sided. Being up and about also eases the bone-deep unease that he could fall asleep again at any instant.]




[OTA; evening]


By the evening, Bucky has remembered most of the events of the mission, at least those he was awake for. So the quiet, if dazed, friendliness of before has dimmed into something much sharper. He takes up a location near the edges of the camp and watches his fellow Nestmates which a great deal more apprehension. However, he at least has taken a stationary position, to watch over his broodmate’s tent.]

Comments

[shiro2hero]

[He's... honestly surprised when the arm goes around him. Surprised, but not pulling away. Not resisting, or stiffening or -- anything but leaning into it. A little more. Reaching, gingerly at first, to reciprocate. To wrap his own arm around Bucky's shoulders in turn.]

[So grateful he's awake. So grateful there isn't another hole in his chest where someone else used to be.]

[He takes a deep breath. Slowly. Steadily.]

(It's really good to see you again.)

[bracchium]

[Bucky meant it when he said he was glad to be back, despite the obvious holes in his memory. Something happened to stress him to the point of collapse, but the depth of that fear doesn't seem to have continued. For now the anxiety remains tolerable, something he can handle. Shiro's arm around his shoulder only enforces that sense of security. He has people who will help him and watch out for him.

He's not sure he's ever had that in his life.

At least not the parts he can remember right now.]

( You too. )

[shiro2hero]

[People very rarely come back. At least, in his experience. They don't just show up after leaving. After being taken away. But Bucky has. And to him, that means a lot. That means more than he can really say.]

[So he doesn't bother saying it. Just leans into him. Holds onto him. Gratitude and affection wrapped together in something he doesn't know how to name. He... cares about this person, about this man.]

[More than he thought he did, until Bucky came back.]

[He doesn't say anything, then. Maybe they don't need to. Maybe they can just sit like this for a while and be glad to see each other. That something went right.]

[Just once.]

[bracchium]

[Sitting sounds perfectly alright with Bucky. Between the confusion and the beginnings of a headache lacing behind his eyes, he could do with a little more rest. Just a little more. Just enough to revel in being awake and not packed away on a ship, frozen again until the end of days.]