𝔸𝕤 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕤 𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦

Chapter 14

Tw: Strong language, violence, implied self-hate

Morning had come far too quickly for Bucky's liking.

As he slowly started becoming accustomed to the white aurora the room was bathed in, Bucky had come to terms that his head was resting against something soft, and it sure as hell didn't feel like his pillow. He rolled off the object, coming dangerously close to the edge of the bed, and stretched out limbs with a satisfying pop.

When he lifted his head and turned to look at what it was he'd been lying on, a small chuckle bubbled out of his mouth upon seeing that it wasn't an object, but a person. He remembered falling asleep on a beanbag on the floor- Steve must have picked him up and deposited him on the bed without him ever waking up.

Bucky inched away from Steve's sleeping form, swinging his legs over the side of the mattress and allowing a soft yawn to pass his lips.

With quiet steps, Bucky padded into Steve's bathroom and glanced briefly at himself in the mirror. His vision was still blurred with sleep, but Bucky could already tell he looked like he'd just crawled out of hell, like he always did in the morning.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Bucky's eyes flicked up to his dishevelled reflection in Steve's mirror and immediately winced. Dry and cracked lips, shoulder-length curls that looked like he'd just gotten in a fight with a hair straightener- what would Tony ever see in him?

Tony's hair was forever messy, but with him it always looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, stylishly rumpled in all the right ways. He could probably wear a burlap sack and still make it look good. An unwanted image entered his mind, and heat spread to his cheeks as he hurriedly pushed it away.

He wrestled with his hair for a minute to no avail, and gave up, creeping out of the bathroom so he wouldn't wake the sleeping blond still sprawled over the bed.

The kitchen was Bucky's first stop, and he slipped through the doorway, barely processing anything else in the room before his eyes went to the coffee maker in the corner. Steve rarely drank coffee, and Sarah didn't touch the stuff, so Bucky had a slight suspicion they only kept it around for his benefit. That was a pre-coffee thought, however, and Bucky didn't trust himself enough to make decisions without coffee.

He quickly made himself a generous serving of the golden brown liquid, the corners of his mouth twitching up in amusement as he realised it was the same colour as Tony's eyes. Bucky hadn't even realised someone had been watching him before he heard a soft laugh, and his eyes flicked up to see Sarah leaning against the opposite counter, looking at him over the top of her glasses.

"Good morning," he greeted her politely, lowering the cup from his lips. Bucky only just managed to prevent himself from releasing the handle of the teacup at Sarah's sudden appearance, quickly setting it down on the counter before his metal hand could destroy it in a different way.

His expression must have been absolutely ridiculous, because Sarah laughed again, and boosted herself up so she was sitting atop the counter. "Good morning to you too, Bucky."

Her eyes were almost the exact same colour as Steve's, Bucky noted absently. A piercing cerulean-blue shade with a hazel band around the pupil. His own eyes were much darker, looking more like that of a pansy flower than anything else.

"You're up early," she stated, and Bucky considered this for a second. He'd never understood why people felt the urge to state the obvious.

"Earlier than usual," he said with a laugh. "Steve's normally the early riser. I guess I crashed early yesterday."

Sarah snorted. "It wasn't even six o'clock. What did you do at school?"

Bucky rubbed the back of his neck with his flesh hand awkwardly. "The usual," he said simply, hoping Sarah wouldn't pry further. They'd both already been lectured by her after Steve came back looking like he'd taken a bath in blue food colouring and Bucky came back looking like he'd just barely survived a homicide attempt.