THE FADING FALLEN ● Bucky Barnes X OC ● 18+ ● ENGLISH [COMPLETE]

Chapter 54

∼⋄∼⋄∼ ○❖○ ∽⋄∽⋄∽

Bucky lie awake staring at the ceiling for an hour now.

The fact that he was in his bed for the first time in a long while was more or less thanks to Emilia.

Shortly after she left for the bathroom, she suddenly stood in front of him, showered and with her hair still half-wet.

His dark red shirt reached almost to her knees. She had to roll up the sleeves to avoid getting completely drowned in it. And although the button placket was closed, the collar kept slipping over her bare shoulder.

The fact that she was leaning against the door frame and posing, only to reproach him that he was surely interested in something specific, didn't make it any easier for him to take his eyes off her.

He nearly jumped all over her if her smartphone hadn't begun to make noises all of a sudden. As if on command, she hurried on her bare feet to the couch and devoted herself to the latest news on her notebook.

With her highly concentrated, almost absent manner, she literally banished him from his own living room.

Although he really tried and now lay on a nightmare of a mattress in only his typical sleep outfit consisting of slipboxers and a thin blanket, he couldn't get a wink of sleep.

It wasn't just the far too soft lying surface that reminded him of cotton candy which was to blame.

Mainly it was the image of the woman sitting cross-legged on his couch, brooding over the latest information.

Actually, he should just go to her. The thought that she was only a few meters away from him on the other side of the wall left a dry taste in his mouth. Almost as if he were dying of thirst just before he reached the redeeming oasis in the desert.

What was under the dark red fabric that at that moment covered not his but her far more delicate skin gave him no rest.

Bucky closed his eyes and compulsively tried to find some sleep. After not even five minutes he opened them again, threw back the blanket and stood up.

His dust-dry throat thirsted for water.

Secretly, he knew that he was thirsting for much more. And it certainly didn't harm to check on the cause of his thirst while he allowed himself a glass of water.

Cautiously, he opened the door and stepped outside.

In the dim light of a discreet floor lamp next to the two-seater, he spotted Emilia.

She was curled up on her side like a little kitten, asleep. Her notebook was open on the wooden floor in front of her. The screen was black.

Bucky carefully grabbed a glass from the shelf and turned on the tap. As he gulped down the water, he considered the peacefully sleeping Emilia.

Her light brown hair was a little wavier than usual and wildly spilled over the cushions. Her face rested on her right forearm, while the other lay buried under the dark gray pillow.

After one thirst was quenched, he set his glass on the small sideboard next to the sink and walked toward her.

He knelt beside her and flipped the notebook closed, pushing it a little to the side. For a few seconds he looked at her, brushing a strand of hair out of her face so he could see it clearly.

With a flick of his wrist, he had snatched the beige fleece blanket from the couch recliner and spread it over her. A brief moment later, he sat down on the floor at the level of her head and wrapped his arms around his bent legs.