[AU] it seems there are a thousand bars

[nerves_of_ice]

He can feel the walls closing in. It doesn’t matter how big the compound is; it’s a prison, and he knows it, and he knows that Steve doesn’t know he feels that way, and he’s determined not to let him find out.

But it’s harder than he expected. The nights are the worst. He sleeps as little as he can, wakes from nightmare after nightmare trying not to scream or react too visibly - just in case Stark’s managed to sneak in some surveillance tech after all.

It’s just another such night. This time the road in the dream had held not only Howard and Maria, but Natasha as she’d looked in Odessa, and as he’d taken the kill shot he’d seen Sharon fall instead, her face bloody and eyes blank and empty.

He jerks awake and lets out a weary sigh once he’s managed to shake off the nightmare. The ones that are built from actual memories are worse, somehow. It’s harder to distance himself from them, but he’s going to try. Bucky pulls on jeans and a black shirt and moves silently down the hall to the back stairs, passing through the night like a shadow or a ghost.

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[marvel_npc]

Vision also moves like a ghost – in his case, slightly more literally, as he walks right through the wall from the library and nearly directly into James Barnes.

Bucky, he reminds himself. "Hello," he says, politely, and lifts the book in his hands in a mix of apology and excuse. "Wasn't looking where I was going, I'm afraid."

[nerves_of_ice]

He realizes just how much of a hair trigger he’s on when he recoils at speed, moving back three steps in a single leap and ending up against the wall. He manages to stop himself from anything worse, at least.

“No problem,” he manages after a second. “Sorry to bother you.”

[marvel_npc]

Vision pauses, head quirking just slightly as he gives Bucky a quizzical look.

"I apologize," he says. "I am told it can be quite alarming when I forget to use a door. But I did not expect anyone else to be awake so late."

He clicks his tongue, thoughtful, and considers for a moment. The man is distressed, obviously; tense as a wire with deep shadows beneath his eyes. Vision wonders if he has been sleeping at all. "Do you like tea?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky stares at him like he’s said something completely incomprehensible.

“Tea?”

[marvel_npc]

"I understand it can be soothing," Vision explains.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh. Tea's okay, I guess." As he drags his thoughts back to the present, out of the dark, he puts the pieces together. "I'm fine," he adds. "You didn't do anything you need to apologize for."

[marvel_npc]

"And yet I wish to apologize regardless," Vision says, smiling slightly. "Ah, the capricious whimsy of the social contract."

He considers the man; the tension threading through every line of him, exhaustion clear in the lines of his face. Bucky Barnes is not headed for the kitchen this time, and anyway Agent Carter has returned to Berlin and is surely in no need of any cinnamon in her coffee that she cannot get for herself. "You seem perturbed," he says. "Would company or conversation assist?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He'd already known Vision's perception was incredibly acute, but he could wish it otherwise right now. He's also pretty sure that flat-out lying to him won't wash, so--

"I don't know," he says, frankly. "I'm okay. I just had some trouble sleeping, is all."

[marvel_npc]

Vision makes a small sound of understanding and tips his head along the hall in invitation. He doesn't know where Sergeant Barnes was headed, if anywhere in particular, but he's observed that humans sometimes prefer any movement at all, even lacking direction, to standing in a hallway.

"Are your quarters sufficiently comfortable?" he asks. "Or perhaps too comfortable; I have heard the observation from several of my colleagues that it can be difficult to sleep in a place with more amenities than those with which they are familiar."

[nerves_of_ice]

"They're not wrong," he admits, as he falls in beside Vision. He's not sure where they're going, but it doesn't really matter. "But the apartment's fine."

It is, the potential of Stark's surveillance tech breaking through the current countermeasures notwithstanding.

[marvel_npc]

"I'm glad to hear it."

He closes the book he'd been reading as he walked through the wall, keeping it in a light grip at his side as they walk. "It's not that I don't enjoy the company," he remarks, off-handedly. "In fact, it's quite the opposite. But I admit I am curious, more than a little. This is not the first time I've encountered you during a time when all the rest of the campus is sleeping."

Vision's smile is slight, but kind. "Once is a unique experience; twice begins to feel like a pattern. Do you often have trouble sleeping?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sometimes."

Bucky glances at him, then away, scanning the hall ahead of them.

"But it's fine. I don't need much sleep."

[marvel_npc]

"I don't need any," Vision tells him, in the spirit of commiseration.

"But if you'll forgive the observation, it looks as though you are getting still less than even the minimum required."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'd wondered," Bucky tells him. "If you did, I mean - need some kind of downtime, even if not sleep exactly."

"And you're pretty observant." He sounds faintly resigned.

[marvel_npc]

"Rest, yes," Vision tells him. "One of the drawbacks of a corporeal body, I'm afraid, even a vibranium one. But it's more than physical, sometimes, isn't it? My body may not tire easily, but even I sometimes grow weary in mind and soul."

He cuts a glance over at Sergeant Barnes, his tone lightly apologetic. "Yes. I'm afraid I always have been."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Weary in mind and soul," he repeats. "That's a nice way of putting it."

Bucky sighs, very slightly, and glances back at Vision. "It's not a bad thing," he tells him. "It's even useful-- very useful. It's just been a long time since I was ... seen, I guess."

[marvel_npc]

"Forgive me," Vision says, gently, "but it does not take my powers of observation and analysis to recognize that you are not sleeping well."

Likely enough it's just impolite enough to mention that no one else has. He makes a mental note and continues. "I suppose medicinal sleep aids have the same lack of effect on you as they would on Captain Rogers, is that correct?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Seems likely. I haven't tried, but I shake off other things like that the way he would."

If it's that obvious, it might be a problem if anyone else starts paying closer attention. He's not sure what he can do about it, but he'll have to figure out something.

[marvel_npc]

Vision nods, and wonders whether it would be appropriate for him to offer to contact Agent Carter, who would no doubt prefer to know of any changes in Sergeant Barnes's wellbeing while she remains in supervision.

"If you asked," he says, instead, "Wanda may be willing to assist. I know her powers may seem invasive, but she also has the ability to use them in a way that can ease a troubled mind, rather than disturb a serene one."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I don't want to worry anyone," Bucky tells him. "Making a big deal out of this might do that."

[marvel_npc]

The glance Vision gives him is slightly amused and more than a little sympathetic.

"I understand you've been on your own for quite some time," he remarks. It's not quite a non sequitur. "But I hope you'll believe me when I say it is no bother to accept help when it is freely offered."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky slants another look at him and is silent for several seconds, his mind racing. Finally, he says,

"It's not about being a bother. Not like that." He walks beside him for several more steps before he says, "Something like this - it's a weakness that could be used against me. I don't mean by Wanda. By -- others."

After another second, he adds, "And Steve'll worry. I don't want him to. He's dealing with enough because of me already."

[marvel_npc]

"Mm," Vision says, thoughtful. "I see."

He turns left at the next corridor junction... away from Captain Rogers' rooms and the direction he'd originally taken. "Should I inform Agent Carter of the potential security concern?"

[nerves_of_ice]

His expression smooths into pure neutrality. "It's not a Task Force concern," he says. "So no, I don't think there's any need."

[marvel_npc]

Vision frowns at him in faint consternation.

"Forgive me," he says. "I assumed Agent Carter was the correct point of contact."