[COMPLEMENTARY PARTS] - Never Ending story

Them ? ◇

"- Eventually she'll come around to you Buck.
- And what if she doesn't, what if I can't, Steve?
- Then... You need her as much as she needs you. You'll find your way to her. You'll find your way back to each other."

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- RIGHT AFTER PREVIOUS CHAPTER -

"Bucky? James, can you hear me? You have to wake up, you're having a bad dream--", says Y/N as she gently shakes Bucky to wake him up. Panicking, he suddenly opens his eyes after a few seconds of her shaking and looks at her for a second before jumping a little further, panting.

"Hey, hey Buck it's okay it's me, it was just a nightmare it's okay now, it's me, just me.", she says while getting closer to him, hesitating to even touch him with all the previous questioning and scariness still on her mind, but she still needs to care for him, especially in hard moments like this.

Bucky is still trembling and shaking, not even reacting to Y/N's words. She looks at him in silence for a second, hesitating before sitting next to him. She then puts her hand on Bucky's cheek who's still breathing at one of the fastest paces, beginning light strokes on his cheek from the top of her thumb. 

"Look at me, James...", she says softly.

"It's alright, it's over. Okay? You're okay now..."

Her soothing voice combined with her light touch is making Bucky calm down almost right away, only a few seconds are needed for his breath to steady, for his mind to reconnect. It could be surprising from an exterior view, a state of panic being calmed this efficiently by a gesture that simple, but these two have always been this cure to each other. Each is a remedy to the other, a vital one.

Slowly arriving at a state of calm again, he finally looks up at her, putting his hand on hers. She stops her caresses at his gesture, relieved of finally sensing a sense of peace coming from him but... these eyes, this gaze. This many years of knowing each other got Y/N to know those ocean-blue eyes by heart and most importantly each of their nuances, and what they express. Just a glance at them, and she can describe and understand his beloved emotions at the deepest level, and right now, while her eyes are giving worryingness, his eyes are giving pain, tiredness, wretchedness.

"Do you wanna talk about it, James? Are you okay..?", she says with a soft voice, doing her best to try to put her friend at peace, trying to give him a sense of security so that he can feel safe enough to finally let it out, let all of this darkness eating him out. Bucky looks at her with the same gaze for a few seconds, staying silent.

He doesn't even need to answer, actually. Sometimes no words are needed to answer, no tears are needed to show pain, no hits are needed to feel hurt. The answer is: Bucky is not well right now, and Y/N knows it, and she even knows the why.

Their story became unfortunately the almost same since that day on the train, this fall, the fall of both of their life. The only difference is one of them two got rid of a part of this pain and sorrow that has been put inside her, the other one is still battling interiorly with them, losing against them, even. Gently removing her hand to take it into his, he nods and looks down.

"I'm okay, Y/N. I'm... I'm fine.", he says with a slightly trembling voice, nervously playing with her fingers, focusing on some of her visible scars on her hands.

Y/N frowns even more, keeping eyes on his face. Her eyes are giving confusion in addition to worryingness now, her heart is aching. Aching because she knows what she saw, she saw these eyes, these crying for help eyes, this need to be rescued heart, and she is right there, holding out her hand for him, trying to rescue him but it's like... he doesn't want to, at least not with her, maybe. That's what his attitude reflects for her, but is it what it reflects for him, though?

"You were leaving?", he asks while still gently playing with her fingers, acting completely disinterested in what just happened. Y/N let him do, keeping eyes on his face.

"I was, but... if you want me to, I can stay a little longer."

"I'm... okay, don't worry, you must be tired too anyway." 

"James, if you need--"

"I'm fine, Y/N." says Bucky while wearing a fake smile to reassure her, finally looking back at her. Y/N stares at him with still the same level of confusion.

"Let me take you home."

Bucky stands up from the sofa, doing his best to keep the same smile on his face. Y/N lightly nods, resigning. Tears are coming up in her eyes, this pain and sorrow got to her too.

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Very short chapter, thank you for reading, feel free to comment! ♡