Lux Brumalis: "The light of winter"/"Winter's light."
After defeating the Flag Smashers and conquering his inner demons, Bucky is trying to live a quiet life in New York City. While being Cap's sidekick has brought him (mostly unwanted) fame and at...
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She helps him up, his metal hand clutching hers as they both grunt and she hauls him to his feet. He's fucking massive, not to mention heavy. Charlotte is 5'7" and she used to be pretty strong when she was an undergraduate. She went to the gym six days a week, but now? Now, she's mostly chained to a desk and there's a reason why she wears high-waisted jeans. If that low-rise shit actually comes back, she will buy every pair of high-waisted jeans in New York and hoard them like a dragon.
Charlotte walks him to the bathroom. His steps are unsteady and he trips a couple of times over his own feet, almost taking her down with him. Finally, she gets him to sit on the edge of the bathtub. She stands back and looks at him, her hands on her hips as she assesses the damage on his face.
"I have to confess, I don't know what I'm doing."
He laughs softly.
"There's, uh, peroxide and cotton balls under the sink. Bandages, too. I'll walk you through it."
"You know how to fix this stuff?" Charlotte asks.
Bucky grins, almost proudly, but he does it through a wince.
"I've been in a lot of fights."
She frowns at him and crouches down, opening the cupboard and finding a small plastic box filled with cotton pads, bandages, gauze, and supplies to clean wounds. There's even a small kit for stitches. Charlotte hopes she doesn't have to use that. She grabs it and sets it on the counter, looking over her shoulder.
"I don't know what half of this stuff is," she laughs.
"Have you ever cleaned a cut before?"
"Obviously," she whispers.
He chuckles lightly, it's almost a scoff. There's a bit of an arrogance to his demeanor, but Charlotte ignores it. He's in pain. She would be testy, too. She grabs a cotton ball and soaks it in alcohol. She hesitantly steps toward him.
"This is going to hurt."
"I know," Bucky sighs.
Beyond the injuries, he looks exhausted and beaten down - not just physically, she can see it in his eyes. The twinkle in them is gone. Charlotte leans down and gingerly grabs his chin as she dabs at the cuts above his eyebrow, his broken nose, and along his sharp cheekbones. Bucky doesn't even wince, he just stares at her.
"You didn't have to do this."
"I told you," she whispers, trying to clean off as much blood as she can without shifting the skin or making things worse. "We're friends. You're hurt."
"By tomorrow, a lot of this will be healed."
"Seriously?"
"Well, at least, healed faster than most people. It's the serum."
Charlotte hums softly.
"Well, you should clean these anyway."
Bucky grunts and breathes softly. She wants to ask him if everything is okay, but she knows it's not. She also knows that Bucky might not tell her. Treating his wounds feels a bit like petting a cactus, but she sticks with it. He's been kind to her and compassionate when she had her little meltdown. Sometimes people just need someone to take care of them, even if they're not exactly 100% receptive to it. She smiles softly as she locks eyes with him and dabs at the wound above his eyebrow.
