Sebastian Stan Short Stories

Bucky Barnes [14]

"Bulls Eye"

Post Civil War; possible spoilers

*Author's Note June 27, 2018: if you got a notification about an update to this chapter, I was only correcting the chapter title format. The content itself has no changes. 

*

I held the metal bead in my hand and tested its weight. It was only half a centimeter and perfectly round, but highly magnetic and very fun.

"We'll be tied if you get this," Sam reminded me. Natasha poked her head over the back of the couch to sight our target: a sleeping Bucky and his fully exposed metal arm. She had casually walked by and dropped one of the small magnets against Bucky's arm, followed by Sam. None of us were sure how sensitive his arm was, but he hadn't woken up yet.

"Just you wait, bird brain, I'm going to win," I whispered. I took the magnet and stood up. Socked feet and a plush rug made my steps silent. Bucky had led a handful of Wakandans operatives in a night training mission out in the jungle, and it was his misfortune to fall asleep in a public space after dinner.

I circled the couch he was sprawled out on and very carefully stretched my hand out over his. He was making it so easy for me: his left hand placed right in the center of his chest while he laid on his back.

But then he rolled over. I dropped to my knees and looked across the room at Sam and Natasha. Sam was watching excitedly, obviously hoping Bucky would catch me in the act. Natasha had covered her mouth with her hand. Bucky quickly settled down again, and I suppressed my happy laughter. After his role, my target was tucked under his face. My target was markedly smaller now.

My audience watched intently as I finished my loop around the couch so I could stand in front of Bucky. I knelt next to his arm, noticing that Natasha and Sam's magnets were now out of sight. I looked over my shoulder and grinned at Sam and Nat. I may have been overestimating my skills and underestimating the sensory units in Bucky's arm, but I prepared my self to place the bead on his wrist.

There was the slightest ping as the magnet attached itself. And then I was running.

Socked feet and polished tile floors made for very hazardous running conditions. I made it away from Bucky's couch and halfway around the gathering space to our fort on the other side before physics got the better of me. Both feet went sliding out from under me as I rounded a corner. Sam sprawled out to catch my fall, and I braced both hands for impact with the floor. They landed on either side of Sam's head. I managed to stop my momentum about an inch above Sam's chest.

"Hey," he whispered. He had a shit-eating grin on his face. Natasha was practically biting her hand to keep from laughing; I had never seen her so cracked up.

"Hey," I replied. "Nat's turn."

"I hadn't forgot," she told me. She pried a magnet off of the ball they were gathered into and peaked over the couch cushions. With another laughing fit come and gone, she was all business.

*

"Tied at twelve," Sam narrated.

"Me and Nat have twelve. You have ten," I corrected.

"I am twelve for twelve," he argued. Nat shook her head.

"We've gotten all of ours on his arm. Two of yours hit his chest and stuck through his shirt," she said. "That's a penalty."

"Since when?" Sam demanded. We both shushed him as Bucky stirred on the couch. Amazingly, he was still asleep after an hour and 36 little magnetic beads being dropped, tossed, and chucked onto his arm.

"Since the first time you missed," I informed him. He rolled his eyes and took a magnet. He stood on his knees behind the couch, closed one eye, and prepared to flick yet another magnet across the room. "You can't do it, Sam."

He stuck his tongue out at me without losing focus. He threw the magnet, and it stuck. Nat and I stared in disbelief. It stuck right in the middle of the red star on his shoulder.

"Looky there. I did it," Sam bragged. "And you know what you two can do? You can both kiss my--"

"Not happening," Nat cut in. She took a bead and vaulted flawlessly over the back of the couch. After round five, we mutually decided circling the room was pointless. Bucky was sound asleep. She then leaned over the coffee table and gently dropped her magnet onto Bucky's metal bicep.

"I think I deserve more points for making a throw like that," Sam said when Natasha had rejoined us. "It was beautiful, and neither of you have done it yet."

"Two on the deltoid cancel out one on the star," I pointed out.

"You're both just making this up as you go along, aren't you?"

"Yep," Nat and I said together.

I took up my next round of ammo and carried it over the couch and around the coffee table. There were little metal pellets up and down Buck's arm, but none on his hands. I wanted to get one right at the tip of his finger. So I positioned myself next to him and decided on the middle finger. He had rolled around plenty, but he was still on his side facing our hidey-hole. Now he was hugging a decorative pillow in front of his chest, making our task a bit easier.

I poised the magnet over his fingers, but then he started to stretch. The pillow fell out of his grasp, he extended both arms straight out, and I did an awkward back bend over the coffee table. As my hands found a bit of purchase on the lip of the table, my weight unbalanced it and some art-deco candle holder fell into the floor. The side of the table under my butt came up like a seesaw and popped me on the backside of my thighs, and the candle holder hit the rug. Thankfully, nothing made a sound.

Except Sam.

Almost, but not quite, silent laughter came from the far side of the couch, along with a breathy comment along the lines of "She's so clumsy."

And then I got caught. Bucky reached for his fallen pillow but instead of finding it in the floor, it had hit my legs and tilted over onto my thighs. I held my breath as he stretched out his hand. Damn the small pillow and his long arms. He reached right past the far side of the pillow, and his fingers hit my belly button. Sam and Nat both gasped behind me.

Bucky was smart enough to realize something was off. His opened his eyes groggily and stared right at me.

"What the hell?" he muttered. I pushed myself off the table in a beautifully clumsily manner Sam wouldn't let me live down and started sprinting.

"Run!" I called out to Sam and Nat. Our careful silence turned into fits of laughter as we streaked down the nearest corridor that led away from Bucky.

*

Author's Note:

My Internet issues are finally over, and I have Wi-Fi! I've already posted a new chapter of Through the Shadows and hope to add another later today. I may even post another story here depending on what kind of time I have on my hands. Thank you all for being so patient with me.

Also, a huge thank you for every single one of my 11,800 reads! And over 400 votes! I'm so amazed and very grateful for each and every one.