[oom] in the dark house you have seen the sun rise

[nerves_of_ice]

Ayo had suggested - firmly - that it would not be wise for him to be a part of the response team that's standing ready in case anything goes wrong, and he can't say that he disagrees with her. Instead, Bucky goes to Shuri's lab when 'Irma' and 'Ryan' leave for the meet with the distributor and listens in from there.

Nothing goes wrong. He's glad; they all are, he knows. Once it's clear that they're on their way back and not being followed, Shuri takes off her earpiece and turns to him. "Well. That is good. Everything is going as we had hoped. So now I must ask you - are you ready to proceed tomorrow as we have planned?"

He removes his own earpiece and sets it aside before he answers her. He doesn't want there to be any chance that he'll be overheard, not about this. "Yes," he says, quietly, but without hesitation. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." One corner of his mouth twitches in a rueful smile. "Is it okay to say that I'm a little nervous?"

Shuri takes his hand between hers and holds on. "Of course it is okay," she tells him. "It is no small amount of trust that you have placed in me. This I know."

They sit there in the quiet for a while before he squeezes her hand and lets go. Shuri bounces to her feet and smiles at him. "Now go," she says, attempting a stern manner and failing due to the laughter in her bright eyes as she orders him around. "Do something fun today. I will see you in the morning."

"Okay," Bucky says, and gives her a quick answering smile before he walks out.

He goes back to the hut by the lake. Whether or not that'd been what Shuri had intended, he doesn't know, but it's more peaceful than anywhere else, and right now that's all he wants. Besides, if anyone's looking for him... well, they'll know how to find him there.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

Bucky's not in Steve's suite when Sharon walks back with him, and Steve looks the question at her as she ponders. "He's probably gone back to the hut," she says, "now that the celebration's over and there aren't so many strangers milling around."

Steve nods, and she gives him a rueful smile. "Want to go down there with me after I change? I need to de-Irma first, but we can walk down together after, if you want."

"That would be great," he tells her, with a warm smile, and she smiles back.

(There's less than a day, now. Neither of them want to be all that far from him.)

She leaves Steve to change and heads back to her room to wash Irma's makeup off, unzip out of the gray sheath, step out of the high heeled shoes, and by the time Steve knocks politely on her door, she's back to herself: jeans and tank top and sandals, the tote slung over her shoulder, smelling lightly of honeysuckle and clover.

"Let's go," she tells him, and leads the way down and out of the Citadel.

[nerves_of_ice]

At this time of day, the sunlight casts dappled shadows through the trees and lies gold on the water. He still especially likes the soft light of early morning, but this is nice, too.

Bucky gets up from where he's settled under the familar tree and walks down to the lakeshore. He scrounges for a few stones and starts skipping them, trying to see how far he can make them go.

It's simple. It's soothing. It lets him avoid thinking about anything else.

[from_the_outside]

They hear the sound of skipping stones before they see the person actually doing the skipping, and Steve grins before he breaks into a light jog, trotting down the hill to the shoreline.

"Hey, old man," he greets Bucky as he comes to a halt. "Bet you I can skip one further than you."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh, yeah?" Bucky grins and tosses a flat stone to him, which Steve catches by reflex. "Let's see you do it."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon doesn't bother to pick up her pace, just strolls slowly down as Steve winds back and flings the stone out across the water.

It skips more times than she can easily count. Super soldiers.

For her part, she shakes out the green throw on a sunny patch of grass and takes a seat where she can watch them, close enough to be a peanut gallery and far enough that she won't get splashed if stone-skipping turns into rough-housing.

"What are you betting?" she asks, grinning. "The goats?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh, the usual," Bucky tells her, pausing in his rock-throwing to smile at her. "Bragging rights. Who buys the next round. That kind of thing."

Steve laughs. "Who's up on that count, anyway?"

"Beats me," Bucky tells him, and sends the next stone bouncing across the surface of the lake.

[from_the_outside]

"You're both ridiculous," she tells them, and slips her sunglasses on before lying back on the green throw and stretching in the sun.

"Sounds like sour grapes to me," says Steve, and she makes a rude gesture at him as he laughs.

[nerves_of_ice]

“Why’s that?” He looks and sounds amused, both. Steve shrugs, and grins at him.

[from_the_outside]

"When was the last time either of you bragged?" she counters. "Or had to buy a round?"

She puts her arms beneath her head and closes her eyes to the sun, letting it soak into her skin. "Goats would be the better bet."

[nerves_of_ice]

With her eyes closed, it's unlikely that she'll see the quick glance Bucky and Steve trade -- the first wryly accepting, the second more than a little rueful.

"Okay, it's been a while, that I'll admit," Bucky says. "But we can keep count of the rounds for next time, anyway."

After a second, he adds, "Besides, there're only six goats. And they'd get mad as hell if Steve tried to pack one back on the jet."

[from_the_outside]

She waves off his protestations like she's waving away a slightly annoying insect as Steve says,

"No offense, but I don't really want a goat anyway."

"City boys," she scoffs; to herself, to the sunshine, to the uncaring goats that definitely aren't paying attention to any of them since it became obvious they have no food.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Look who's talking," he counters. "You're not exactly a country girl, now are you?"

Steve manages to hold back a laugh of his own as Bucky turns to him, demanding, "And what's wrong with the goats?"

[from_the_outside]

"At least there was some greenery where I grew up," she points out, but she has to laugh as Steve tries to defend himself.

"Nothing! I just don't know what I'd do with one."

"Let it play with Redwing?" Sharon suggests, lazily. "Put a wig on it and use it for 'damsel in distress' drills?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"There are trees in Brooklyn," Bucky informs her. "Some grass, too. It's not all a concrete jungle."

"Not all," Steve agrees, although he looks a little dubious about the claim Bucky's staking. "And I don't think a goat would like Redwing."

Bucky grins. "That's because they're smart."

[from_the_outside]

"Are they, though," says Sharon, still lounging in the sun. Steve only grins and skips another rock.

"This reminds me of all the money you lost trying to win those ring toss games at Coney Island," he says, and from her spot on the blanket, Sharon laughs.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky groans. "I should have picked a different game."

"A different game would have had different prizes," Steve points out, and Bucky makes a face at him.

"Yeah, yeah, be all logical, why don't you."

[from_the_outside]

"Why, what was the prize?" asks Sharon, turning onto her side and propping her head on a hand as she grins at them.

Today's been a good day. The meet went well. It's beautiful out. Steve and Bucky are together.

Tomorrow will be hard enough. Best to enjoy what they've got right now.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh, some kind of stuffed animal. A bear, I think," Bucky tells her.

[from_the_outside]

"That was what the barker was handing out, anyway," says Steve, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Pretty sure you were after a different prize with it, pal."

"Oh?" says Sharon, hugely amused. "A girl, huh?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Are you trying to get me in trouble?" he asks Steve, who just laughs.

"Yes," he tells Sharon. "But like I said, I should have picked a different game."

[from_the_outside]

"Why?" she asks, grinning hugely. "She didn't like the bear, or you couldn't win one?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky just shakes his head, and Steve pats him on the shoulder.

"You tried. And it wasn't so bad hitching our way back home on that truck."

[from_the_outside]

She laughs. "What was her name?"

"Dolores," Steve tells her, and grins. "Called 'Dot.'"

"Hmmm," she says, and slide her sunglasses down her nose to give Bucky an amused, affectionate look. "Guess you better work on your aim before you try to win something for me. I will accept no failure."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'll remember that," Bucky says, blandly, and with a quick flick of his wrist sends a stone flying across the lake in a series of tight, precise skips across the water.

[from_the_outside]

"Pretty demanding for someone who's not even going to get in the game," Steve says, but she just lies back again and shakes her head at the sky.

"I know when I'm out-classed."