VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[16]

Elysia's eyes opened to the sunlight streaming in through the window, replacing the patch of moonlight that had illuminated the room the night prior. As she stirred, she felt a hand running through her hair, playing with the pink tresses, and she instinctively leaned back against Bucky as he left a kiss on top of her head.

"Morning, doll," Bucky hummed, and she turned over to face him, a sleepy grin on the man's face. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she assured him, the haze of sleep beginning to fade from her mind at the first good night's sleep she'd had in weeks, despite the nightmare waking her up in the middle of the night. "Thanks for staying with me."

"No place I'd rather be," he admitted, leaning forward and kissing her softly.

Elysia kissed Bucky back, a feeling of electricity beginning to spread through her body at the feeling of his mouth against hers. She pulled away after a moment to catch her breath, her eyes fluttering open to reveal him looking back at her, breathless.

"We should get up," she said. "We've got a big day ahead."

Elysia began to sit up, climbing towards the edge of the bed, but Bucky grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down beside him. She giggled as he hovered over her, moving a stray piece of hair out of her face.

"James Buchanan Barnes," Elysia scolded playfully, unable to help the grin on her face as she looked up at him.

"I don't want to get up just yet," Bucky admitted, nuzzling his face into her neck as she reached up, playing with his hair. "Let's just be normal, for a couple minutes, yeah?"

"Yeah," Elysia nodded as he planted a couple small kisses on her neck. "Okay."

Bucky smiled as he looked back up at her, leaning down and kissing her again. She kissed him back eagerly as the kiss deepened, wrapping her arms around his neck as he propped himself up on his right arm, the metal of his left hand resting on the open stretch of skin above the waistband of her shorts, where her shirt had ridden up slightly. Elysia allowed herself to get lost in the feeling of the kiss, in the feeling of him, letting it distract herself from the daunting task they knew would be coming later that morning. But here, in their own personal bubble under the sheets, nothing could hurt them. They were, for the first time in she couldn't even begin to guess how long, normal, if only for a moment.

Elysia finally broke the kiss, reaching up to tuck a loose strand of dark hair behind his ear. "We should get something to eat, get your strength up." she suggested, trying to catch her breath. "I'm breaking into your head today, Barnes."

"Yeah," he agreed after a moment, leaning back and taking her hands in his, pulling her up into a sitting position before pecking her on the lips one last time. "I'm going to go get dressed, but I'll meet you back in the hallway?"

Elysia nodded, watching with a smile as he left the room, and she pulled herself up from the bed, moving over to the closet to find a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black shirt. She quickly changed, pulling her hair into a ponytail before tugging on her sneakers. By the time she reached the door, Bucky was already waiting outside, a black t-shirt adorning his body along with a pair of sweatpants.

The smell of sizzling bacon greeted Elysia and Bucky as they reached the bottom of the stairs into the kitchen, where Wanda and Vision stood over the stove, the young woman reading directions to the android as he moved the bacon around on the pan.

"Good morning," Wanda greeted with a kind smile. "Don't mind Vis, he doesn't eat but he wanted to learn how to cook. There's plenty for everyone, help yourselves."

Vision held out a plate full of bacon and scrambled eggs to Elysia, which she accepted gratefully before taking a seat at the dining table. Bucky followed suit, taking a seat next to her as the two began to eat.