[oom] I'll see you in the morning time

[nerves_of_ice]

The low hum of the television on the twenty-four hour sports channel continues all through the night, casting its shadows and dim electronic light over the bed, the blankets, and the two of them curled up together there.

For once, there are no nightmares.

It's only once the sun starts making its way above the horizon and the sky outside begins to fade from black to blue that Bucky stirs - and as he realizes where he is and who's with him, a sunshine-bright smile lights his face.

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

“Not as much as I was,” he says.

Which isn’t the same as ‘no.’

[from_the_outside]

"Yeah, me too."

Which, considering how anxious she'd been about it before, probably wasn't saying much.

(She'd never been a particularly anxious person before, but she supposes spending six years in a place where any slip-up could get her killed has had kind of an adverse effect.)

[nerves_of_ice]

“Come here,” he coaxes. “Bring the laptop with you. We can curl up together and look at stuff.”

There’s not much more unpacking to do anyway, and it can wait.

[from_the_outside]

"Okay," she agrees, and kisses him a last time before letting go so she can lean back and grab the laptop. She waits until he's settled before curling into his side and setting the computer on her legs where he can see it too, then opens it back up again.

"Tables."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Tables,” he agrees, and peers down at the screen.

“That’s a lot.”

[from_the_outside]

"I know," she says, a little dismayed. "I don't have as clear an idea of what to look for as I did with the couch."

So she'd pulled up a bunch of different searches and options and scanned through them, hoping something would jump out at her. "I think I prefer rectangle over round, but that's as far as I got."

[nerves_of_ice]

“What do you call the…”

With his free hand, he mimics a flap going up and down.

“On the sides of a table,” he clarifies.

[from_the_outside]

"Drop leaf," she says, and pulls up a couple versions she'd tagged earlier, some round and some rectangular. "Like these?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“Yes,” he says. “With it by the window, that way we could have the space when not using the table.”

[from_the_outside]

"I think that's a good idea."

It's a good-sized room, but space is always at a premium. She flips back and forth, indecisive, between a couple of options. "Do you like the ones with four legs or the ones with one pedestal in the middle?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He eyes one of the pedestal tables.

“Wouldn’t that get in the way?”

[from_the_outside]

She gives him an amused look. "In the way of what?"

Admittedly the pedestals look a little better on the round table than the rectangular ones. She glances from him to the screen, noting the options he's focusing on, and casually clicks out of the windows with round versions.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky gives her a patient look. "Of our feet."

He carefully taps the screen with the tip of one metal finger, pointing at a mahogany drop-leaf table without a pedestal. "See? You can stretch out your legs under a table like that. The post would get in the way. You can't even use it as a footrest, like you can with these."

He taps another example.

[from_the_outside]

"It might get in the way of yours," she says, still amused. "You have longer legs than me. But I see your point."

She gets rid of the pedestal versions and enlarges the one he'd tapped, looking at it with interest. "I like the mahogany."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yeah?" He looks more closely at it. "I do too." Bucky glances at her. "It'd look okay in there, wouldn't it?"

[from_the_outside]

"Definitely." There's no question or hedging in her voice. She checks the site – it's a fairly robust antiques dealer. That's nice, it gives the pieces a little more character. She makes a note of it to come back for things like bookshelves and end tables and studies the table itself again.

"Looks like just the right size, too. With plenty of room with the drop leaves, if we need them."

Like if they doing a huge puzzle or having other people over for dinner or she's managed to get him to play Risk.

[nerves_of_ice]

“—-measuring tape. Right.”

Bucky’s expression grows thoughtful, and he stretches out his left arm and looks at it, considering.

[from_the_outside]

She frowns in confusion, then laughs.

"You don't have a measuring tape in there, do you?"

Maybe Shuri really did take the whole Swiss Army arm thing to heart.

[nerves_of_ice]

He scowls at her. “No. But I know its measurements.”

[from_the_outside]

That scowl doesn't dent her amusement one iota.

"Okay," she says, "but a measuring tape would be easier, unless you want to spend a bunch of time lying on the floor while I mark off increments of your arm."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky sighs. “No, I don’t. Obviously.”

He’d just been trying to avoid leaving.

“I might as well pick up a whole toolbox, come to think of it.”

[from_the_outside]

"May as well," she agrees. "That's the kind of thing that's handy to have around."

She shifts enough to kiss his cheek and press her forehead to his temple. "I promise it's okay for you to run down to the hardware store," she tells him.

[nerves_of_ice]

“In a little bit,” he says, leaning into her. “Once we’re sure we’ve got everything on the list of stuff you want me to pick up.”

[from_the_outside]

She lifts her hands from the laptop keyboard and slips her arms around his middle in a loose hug.

"We should probably start making that list, then," she says, without any indication that she's planning on letting go and doing so.

[nerves_of_ice]

“Coffee,” he says, putting his arms around her in turn and kissing her cheek. “The stuff you like to put in it.”