[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]

"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."

[nerves_of_ice]

"That's a first," Bucky drawls, and Steve makes a choking sound that might be a quickly-stifled laugh.

[from_the_outside]

"What're you trying to say, Barnes?" she demands, teasing. "How often have I been outclassed, huh?"

"Don't answer that," Steve advises. "She might have a gun."

[nerves_of_ice]

He grins at Steve, and shakes his head at Sharon, refusing to say anything.

[from_the_outside]

She smiles and rolls to her stomach to prop her chin on her hands and watch them. Steve sends a rocks skipping so far over the water it lands in a clump of weeds on the far side, and he winces as a flock of disgruntled birds lifts off in response, calling their annoyance into the air.

"Oops."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Better the birds than the crocodiles," Bucky informs him, cheerfully, and sends a last rock of his own flying before he dusts his hand off against his leg. "But I guess we should probably let them settle back in, huh."

"Probably," Steve agrees, and slings an arm around his shoulders as they turn to walk over to Sharon. "Especially if the next thing's a herd of angry crocodiles."

[from_the_outside]

"Please don't rile up the crocodiles," she tells them, and pushes herself up to sit cross-legged, looking up at them through her sunglasses.

"No crocodiles," Steve promises. "That would make me a terrible bodyguard."

[nerves_of_ice]

"It sounded like things went pretty well," Bucky observes, looking back and forth between them.

[from_the_outside]

"It did," she tells him, patting the green blanket invitingly as Steve lowers himself to the grass nearby.

"He didn't give us any trouble. Frankly, I think he was relieved to be working with a professional. We have the invite in hand; we'll be set to go to the auction next week."

[nerves_of_ice]

Next week. It's nothing he didn't already know, but it slices into him anyway. Bucky nods to show Sharon he'd heard her, and glances at Steve, who's watching him with understanding clear in his straightforward look.

"I'll make sure to give you the full report," his best friend says. "When you wake up."

[from_the_outside]

She looks over at Bucky, something complicated circling in her chest and glancing out through her eyes.

"Is everything set, then?" she asks. "For tomorrow?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He sits down on the edge of the green blanket, between her and Steve, and nods.

"I talked to Shuri earlier," he tells them, simply. "It's a go for tomorrow morning."

[from_the_outside]

Even expecting it, she feels a little like she's caught a bullet to the chest. "Okay," she says, glancing at Steve. He gives Bucky a glance full of sympathetic understanding, then looks back at her.

It's going to be a long few weeks, especially if he goes away again after the auction. "Good," she decides, and looks back at Bucky. "Nervous?"