[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

[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?"

[nerves_of_ice]

His first instinct is to lie, which is overridden mostly by the realization that both Steve and Sharon will know if he tries it, and will be far more worried than if he just admits the truth.

"A little," he says, after a pause that he knows is just a little too long. "I figure that's pretty normal, though, for something like this."

[from_the_outside]

"Definitely," says Steve, bracingly. "But it's going to be fine. You'll blink and be awake again, and we'll be right there with you."

Her worry isn't going to help him; she just shifts so the tops of her feet nudge lightly against his hip.

(Shuri wouldn't tell him it's time if she weren't sure. They can trust her.)

"Anything you wanna do today before you sleep through the next few weeks?" she asks, instead. "Our options are a little limited, but I bet we can figure something out."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods to Steve, and a look passes between them. It's no small thing to know that he'll be there, not after all the time they've spent separated.

"Not especially," he says. "Although I'm under orders from Shuri to 'do something fun.'"

He looks as wry as he sounds, at that.

[from_the_outside]

"I bet the kids will be happy to help with that," she tells him. "Maybe when they come by we can tell them to come back later for a movie; I bet Shuri would be happy to loan us the equipment."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Bet they would," he says, a little wryly, "if I hadn't passed the word earlier that I was going to be gone for a while. I don't know if they'll come by, except for K'Senge."

"That's what you get for planning ahead," Steve teases, and Bucky picks up a twig and tosses it at him.

"Anyway," Bucky says, "I don't feel like I need to do anything in particular. It's nice just spending time with the two of you."

[from_the_outside]

"We can definitely do that," Sharon tells him, and Steve agrees, even while tossing the twig back at Bucky.

And it is nice. Sharon's always enjoyed both of them and their company, and though they've always seemed pretty different from one another their connection is obvious. There's nobody either of them cares about more, and it's clear in every one of their interactions, in the way Steve teases him and how they keep challenging each other, laughing at references she doesn't get.

That's fine: she's content with just being nearby and joining in when she can. It keeps her mind off what's coming, anyway, and that's something she appreciates.

[nerves_of_ice]

At some point, he's ended up stretched out on his side, with his head propped against his hand, just listening as Steve explains yet another story from their shared past to Sharon.

He's not even aware of the faint smile on his face, or the way he's completely relaxed.