James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
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"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
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"Um, do you wanna move in with me? Forever, I mean."
I froze for a second, unsure whether Bucky really just said what I thought he did.
"Sorry—forget I said that," he amended. "It's just—I just—never mind."
"So you don't want me to move in with you?" I asked slowly.
"No, I do!"
"Here?"
"No. Um, we'd need to be here until we know no one else is after you, but then I thought maybe we could find somewhere else. I don't know. I don't really care where. I guess I just don't want to see you less often when you go back to your place."
"Well then why don't you just move in with me? You've got way less stuff than me; it'd be really easy to do. Just come with me when I move back."
"Yeah, okay." A smile was spreading over his face. Happiness looked so good on him. "You don't mind? You want me to?"
"Of course I want you to," I said. I crossed the room to wrap my arms around him.
"Is this normal?" he asked, hands tangling in my hair. "When do people usually move in together?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Yeah, that's pretty much what Sam said too."
"You asked Sam?"
"Yeah."
"That's so cute."
"No it's not."
There was a pause while I thought. I didn't want him to spend too much time around me for too long of a period and start to find me annoying. He could only think my talking was endearing for so long before he started to hate it. Things felt different now that he wanted to commit to not being annoyed with me.
"Please don't get tired of me," I told him quietly. I shifted my face into his shirt so he couldn't see me anymore. "If you start being annoyed with me, tell me, and I'll talk less."
"I'm not gonna get tired of you, doll. Everybody that makes you think that should feel lucky you bother talking to them in the first place."
"You're biased."
"So?"
I moved away from him so I could sit on the couch and check my laptop. Nothing from Colin. I put it on the coffee table, open, waiting.
Bucky took the opportunity to stretch out and put his head in my lap. He read something on his phone, and then let it fall onto his chest. "Steve says they're going to that base tomorrow."
"You're not going with them?"
"No. I'm staying with you."
That was strange, but I wasn't about to question it. "Fine with me."
