[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.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

"He wouldn't want Steve to know," Sharon says. "Hell, he probably thinks he deserves it."

She rubs her hand over her face and shakes her head, tamping down on the need to go, go, go, to get out of here now and deal with Ross's anger later. "Thanks, Nat," she says, quietly.

God, she never should have left him alone there. She'd thought – with Steve and Nat, at least – but she'd underestimated his desire to keep from making any kind of waves.

[marvel_npc]

"Anytime," she murmurs. "I'll be keeping a closer eye on things until you get here, too. You can be sure of that."

[from_the_outside]

"Appreciate it," she says, grim, "but it won't be long. Keep a hangar open for me, I'm going to try to be in the air in the next hour."

[marvel_npc]

"See you when you get here. Fly safe."

She disconnects the call and sets the phone down within reach, idly wondering if Tony has any idea what's about to land on him.

[from_the_outside]

"You bet," she says, and slides the phone back into her pocket once the call drops, already on her way back out the door.

She's got someplace to be.