Revelations. For onthedot and oldfashionedhero

[trainwrecked]

Over the last couple of years, most of the dreams had abated, generally. Not like they had been the first months, at any rate.

But the return of the colder weather seemed to make them worse, to the point where Bucky'd taken, recently, to avoid sleeping as much as he could. Quietly and without disturbing Steve or Peggy, he thought.

Predictably, that didn't work for long. Eventually, he simply... nodded off, one late morning, when he was going through the morning press with a dictionary. (The Spanish morning press, thank you very much, he could read English without reference material.)

The dream started ... almost acceptably, with him climbing up a snow-thick slope. He'd had no map, no much reference about his starting point, back then, and his memory was spotty at best. And it hurt, hurt all the time. The missing limb, the cold, the exhaustion, the hunger, but mostly the missing arm. It kept him off-balance, it kept. Just being wrong. Reminding him of all he'd lost. All.

Suddenly, he reached a ledge, sheer rock face dropping down far bellow, right in font of him in the snow. He gasped and stumbled back, falling to his knees in the snow and trying to look-not look-look at the precipice. Creeping closer, despite the vertigo (it had to be vertigo, right? Nothing more?) He would have to go to the other side, to keep moving west, somehow. It felt too much, like even the smallest snowflake was weighing him down until he couldn't contemplate getting up again.

Then, there was crunch of boots in the snow behind him. Familiar boots, he'd woken up on the cot on the ground, looking at those boot, manacled because he'd killed two people when he was first recovered.

"It's no use, you know. No matter how far you get, we'll catch up with you. Maybe you could've run from us before you first fell, but now? Now you're just ours." He could swear he should be able to place the accent, but he hadn't been able to, this far. "Where are you running to, anyway? There was nothing there - nobody who won't spurn you, even if they remember you. They didn't come to even look for you."

He didn't answer. Just grunted, and pushed himself unsteadily to his feet. Keep going.

But the voice beside him laughed, clearly amused, not impressed, by his action.

"Oh, now you make our work so much easier. You get to fall again."

And the other man pushed him. As hell, he could ear the voice from above. "Let's see what you lose this time, little soldier. Maybe this time you'll cause so much trouble. Maybe you won't know who you were..."

"No!"

It wasn't even a shout, as Bucky started up from where he'd slumped against the textbook's edge. It wasn't a shout, but it was a croak, full of despair and pain.

He fucking hated nightmares. And falling. And waking up shaking like a leaf, like a weakling.

Comments

[trainwrecked]

Bucky falls in beside her at the hint almost automatically. They've never in any way been public about the affection that they allowed to fill up a fraction of the emptiness beside them, but there have been habits that they developed. Like Peggy allowing him a little bit of dignity in front of strangers (maybe it only works from the front, but that doesn't matter - the thought counts). Like sometimes compensating for his missing arm, and sometimes leaving him work it on his own.

But it's different now, with Steve's step solid on her other side, with his voice, still concerned but lighter. Like his almost palpable relief at not having to aggravate things more when he doesn't want to.

Bucky lets Peggy take a seat first, and then slips to her right lightly.

"I really need that coffee, clearly."

Or maybe not, but he's really ashamed of falling asleep on them, so... Coffee.

[onthedot]

The band that had been tightening and pressing down on her chest eased with that smile. Peggy wanted to tug them down and kiss them both. There was no reason for this to be awkward. Any fool-headed idiot knew Steve and James had been in love for practically forever, except, perhaps, themselves. And had Peggy been a bigger woman, or less entrenched in both, she would let them be.

It would be the easy path.

But none of them were overly fond of the easy path.

Peggy lifts her hand and flags down Angie, and near instantly regrets it. The look she receives for the seating arrangement. She let's out a silent breath and tries not to meet either man's eye while not ducking her head in embarrassment either.

[oldfashionedhero]

"Well, hello," the waitress says, raising her eyebrows and giving Peggy a small smirk as she looks at first Steve and then Bucky. "What can I get you three?"

"Coffee and a plate of bacon," Steve says with a small grin, he glances at his two companions.

"You want any eggs with that bacon?" The waitress asks after scribbling it down.

"Are they fresh?" Steve asks, not looking over at Bucky.

The waitress grins and nods. "Oh yeah, our cook Bob laid them this morning."

"I'll take two over easy," Steve said. He smiled in thanks at the waitress and looked at Peggy and Bucky. Maybe it was being surrounded by people in the crowded diner or the fact that the idea of the two of them was getting easier to take, but he was beginning to feel a little bit normal. One minute at a time.

[trainwrecked]

Bucky's smile isn't quite what it used to be, but - over the months - he's learned to get by as he is now. And that means to pretend that things are how they used to be, even for little bits at a time. His eyebrows go up in a friendly manner.

"Double that coffee, sweetheart. You got any pancakes goin' this morning?"

"Sure do. Bacon for you, too?"

"Sausages. Please. I'd ask for extra syrup, but I don't think this place has any trouble with bein' sweet enough."

The waitress actually blushes, and Bucky moderates his smirk to avoid evoking her wrath, instead. He likes the good mood plenty better. Then he leans back, letting Peggy take her pick, too. Maybe he's going to deflate with the effort of brightness and normalcy as soon as the woman's back is turned, but, for now, the knowledge that he can at least fake it still? Is good to him.

[onthedot]

"Just coffee, Angie. Thank you." Peggy waits until Angie stops looking at her like she hardly knows her before pressing her fingers to her lips. She isn't ashamed. It's...honestly hard to say what she's feeling at the moment. She glances at Steve, who seems to be slowly easing into the idea of being out again, and then at James who's smirk shrunk the moment Angie had turned her back and she frankly hadn't the slightest idea what to say to fill that void.

[oldfashionedhero]

Steve watches the waitress blush and turns his head slightly to hide a smile. For a moment Bucky almost sounds like the old him, the one before the war, but then the moment's over and Steve can't only see him deflate but he can feel it too.

It must be exhausting, pretending everything's okay for the sake of strangers and maybe even for Steve himself. He doesn't think that even Bucky would dare lie to Peggy, so at least there's one person Bucky can be honest with, but that doesn't do much to make Steve feel better.

As much as he wants to pretend everything is okay, he can't forget the reason they're here. He also feels like Bucky may not take it the best if any kind of reproach comes from him right now. So he tries to do it as gently as he can.

"So if you're not sleeping at night, what are you doing?"

[trainwrecked]

Bucky's eyes shoot Peggy over the modest order, and linger on her face for a moment in concern, before he nods slightly, mostly to himself. When his order arrives, he'll be putting it just angled enough so that she'll know that she can pick on some of the food, too. She's done that, before, even if it surprised him the first few times. Now it only takes a moment for him to remember.

Then his eyes turn to Steve, and there's some self-mockery there, there's little guilt, per se.

"Used to sometimes just curl up and try not to think. Then - we were lookin', there were always things to go over again, maps, new ways to try and triangulate the location.

"Now I... try to read. And go for runs." Physical activity doesn't quite shut up his mind, but it helps, a little. The awareness that, even though short a limb, he's not helpless or weak - that also helps. Not enough.

Things that are conspicuously missing from the list - keeping Peggy awake (before or now). Praying.

Drinking.

Anything that would wake either of the other two up.