[oom] a shadow in pursuit

[nerves_of_ice]

It's been well over a month since the auction, a couple of weeks since the procedure, and Bucky thinks they're all beginning to settle into what he thinks of as 'after.'

Sharon's at the lab with Shuri this morning. He's supposed to swing by there later or tomorrow, depending on how far she's gotten with the latest prototype - he'll wait to hear. In the meantime, he's concentrating on chopping up the latest fallen tree.

It's good work. Clean work, in more ways than one.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

"You bet I will."

Because she'll be right there with him, she doesn't say. She puts her arms around his neck and closes her eyes, curling into him.

[nerves_of_ice]

He holds her close and lowers his face to her hair, just breathing for a moment or two.

[from_the_outside]

Her arms tighten around him, but when she speaks again her voice is soft and calm.

"One day," she says. "We'll get to go home again. And then maybe I can show you the one place in Virginia I really loved." She lifts her head and smiles at him.

"And we'll go to that baseball game."

[nerves_of_ice]

He smiles a little. “I’d like that,” he says, simply.

“And you’d like Brooklyn, I think. I’d like you to see it someday, where Steve and I grew up. It’s different, some, but still the same in a lot of ways.”

[from_the_outside]

"And Coney Island," she reminds him, smiling too. "I'd really like to walk around Brooklyn with you."

He smile widens, turns into more of a grin. "You can point out all the places Steve got into fights with people twice his size."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Coney Island, definitely," he confirms, and then chuckles. "That might take a while."

[from_the_outside]

"Fine by me," she tells him. "Throw in a really good cheeseburger and I'm in."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I think we can manage that," he says, with an easy, relaxed smile.

[from_the_outside]

"Good."

She lifts one arm from the loop around his neck so she can tuck a knuckle under his chin, tipping it up as she kisses him, soft and sweet. "It's worth the wait," she tells him, when she pulls back again.

"I told you, Barnes, you're stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere until you can, too."

[nerves_of_ice]

That relaxed smile vanishes in an instant, replaced by something far more stubborn.

"Don't tell him that," he says - demands, even. "Looks like we're probably going to argue about this, but in the meantime don't you even think of closing that door."

[from_the_outside]

"I'm not closing any doors," she says, just as stubborn. "And I'm not telling him anything about you anytime soon. It's just conjecture, anyway; he doesn't have the power to grant me a pardon and Secretary Ross would be more than happy to hang me out to dry for a scapegoat."

So all of this is academic, at least for the time being.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Secretary Ross would be glad to be the next Alexander Pierce," he snaps. "That doesn't mean your Ross won't find a way. And if - when - he does, I don't want you turning it down because of me."

[from_the_outside]

She shakes her head at him, firm. "A lot of things can happen between now and then," she tells him.

"All he's really said is he'll think about it. I'm not going to get my hopes up."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I get that, but don't think I don't notice that you're refusing to make that promise," Bucky tells her, point-blank. "So make this one instead: you don't turn him down until we talk about it."

[from_the_outside]

"Deal," she says. That's an easy promise to make; she doesn't intend to work through any of this without talking to him first.

Partners, right?

[nerves_of_ice]

He relaxes - just a little, but visible if one happens to be looking for it.

"Thanks."

[from_the_outside]

A small bit of tension bleeds away as she watches, and she relaxes, too, seeing it.

"Stubborn man," she says, fondly.

[nerves_of_ice]

"You're only now noticing that?"

It's as dry as dust.

[from_the_outside]

"It may have come up one or two times before," she says, amused, and curls a hand around the nape of his neck, fingers toying idly with the ends of his hair.

[nerves_of_ice]

He leans back into her touch. “Oh, good. I’d hate to think you weren’t observant,” he teases.

[from_the_outside]

His hair is getting even longer; she wonders if she'll be able to coax him into letting her trim it again. For now, she twirls a finger loosely in it and makes an amused face at him.

"It comes and goes," she teases back.

[nerves_of_ice]

He smiles, slow and gentle, and stays still as she twists his hair around her fingers.

[from_the_outside]

"There it is," she says on seeing his smile, and leans in to kiss it gently before leaning back with a sigh.

"I should call Steve," she admits, and taps his chest with the index finger of her free hand. "And your coffee's getting cold."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You know I'd just drink it anyway," he points out, but picks up the cup all the same.

"At least Ross didn't make Steve along with you at the auction."

[from_the_outside]

"You know it's not the Great Depression anymore, right?" she teases, but pushes herself out of his lap and reaches into her pocket for her phone. "Yeah. Small favors."

She scrolls through her contacts until she finds the number for Steve's burner phone, then selects it and hits the speaker icon as it rings. "Let's hope he's not in the middle of something."