'Till the End of Time - Bucky Barnes x OC - Eng.

Twelve

A/N: Song recommendation: Michael FK - Empyrean | Beautiful Orchestral Ambient Music

The next morning

Bucky woke up when his new roommate jumped on his chest. He had apparently fallen asleep on the couch the night before while watching 'Casablanca'.

With a loud gasp and a face contorted in pain, he sat up, his back aching and he let a few of his bones crack by stretching in all directions.

It was just 7 o'clock in the morning, the first time in a long time that he had not been plagued by nightmares.

Still a bit sleepy, he sat on the couch and looked around while rubbing his eyes again and again. A small meow came from his right side and he looked. The cat sat next to him and looked at him expectantly.

"Well kitty? You sleep well too?" He patted her head as she picked her way onto Bucky's lap with her soft paws. She snuggled up to him and purred.

Bucky didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't deny that he liked the idea of keeping the cat. This way he wasn't alone, but he also didn't have to deal with other people's conversations or personal problems.

The ball of fur was just there, not judging him and showing him how much she liked him. He felt the same way, never thinking he was a cat person or that he would ever have a pet at all.

"You still need a name, little one...mmm."

His eyes wandered outside to the snow-covered rooftops of Chinatown. The name should have something to do with cold and snow, after all that was why he had taken her in.

"Hmm... what do you think of Snowball?"

The cat just looked at him and listened to his words.

"No, you're right the name is anything but creative, I might as well call you Susi and you'd share the name with 5000 other cats. Zima? Russian... too obvious mh? How about Alpine?"

The cat meowed once in agreement and it was decided.

He now had a house cat named Alpine.

Today was a good day, Bucky couldn't explain why but he was in a good mood by his standards.

To start the day off right he made himself a coffee. He drank it straight, just black and strong.
In addition he made himself a tomato mozzarella sandwich and sat down again relaxed with a book on the couch.

So he sat there until some hours had passed. Completely engrossed in his book 'The Lonely City' by Olivia Laing, cuddled up in a wool blanket and his Alpine curled up on his lap as usual.

He completely blanked out the world around him, so he didn't notice for the first moment that outside his big window in the living room Sam was flying around and watching him for a moment before knocking on the window.

Bucky was immediately torn from his world and looked out, startled.

Sam, who landed on the fire escape, waited impatiently for the old man to open the window.

"You know there's a doorbell and a front door, don't you?" Bucky asked him as he opened the window.

"You know I think they've been poking around in your brain a little too much in Wakanda. What happened to the Winter Soldier? The Fluff Soldier?"

Bucky rolled his eyes, knowing that name would stick to him immediately.

"That's Alpine. My cat. I took her in. She's only been in my apartment a day and I already like her more than you. Because she doesn't bug me."