Who Am I? » [Stucky]

38. Reappearance

Brrring!

Steve's phone chimed and buzzed as it skated across the top of his side table by his bed, ferried across the varnished surface by the vibrations.

He drowsily groaned as the unwelcomed noise reached his ears and lethargically lifted his dazed head from where they were imbedded in the sheets; his hair a messy blond mop and his blue eyes barely able to remain open and stared at the flickering device.

He reached a slack arm across to where it lay and clawed about on top of the table, knocking various pieces of paper and miscellaneous objects until the device reached his hand and reeled his limb back in to look at it.

The screen was blindingly bright as he tapped the lock button atop of the iPhone. He squinted at the uninvited harsh white glare as it shone blindingly in his eyes.

The time was 9:34am and he had one text.

[1 new iMessage from Nat]

He half felt disappointed when he saw the ID. If she was going to have a go at him again, then she wasn't invited to send him a message, but it had been just over 3 months since they last spoke. Just to double check what she could have possibly wanted he swiped the screen and jabbed in the digits and narrowed his eyes trying to transfix them on the blurry text.

I heard about, Peggy. I'm sorry. NR

He felt his heart sink in his chest again and fell back into the covers with upset. His whole body deflated and his shoulders sagged as he was reminded.

Thank you. I'm sorry for acting like an ass a few months ago. SR

He sent the forgiving simplistic text and then the phone slipped from his clammy hands and hit him square in the face with a painful powerful slap, one corner prodding him in the eye as it fell. He hadn't realised how heavy his phone was until it had launched an attack. His face began to throb and a pained grunt escaped him.

Bucky quickly rushed into the room at the sound.

"What's wrong?" He gasped, eyes wide, scanning the room for the offending cause of Steve's disgruntlement.

"Nothing, Buck. I just dropped my phone on my face," Steve groaned, the iPhone 5S still lying across his cheek. He brushed it off and onto the covers with the flip of a hand.

"Well done, dumb ass," Bucky chided jokily as he strolled into the bedroom.

"Shut up, Putin," Steve growled from the bed, grinning up at Bucky.

Bucky opened up the blinds with a strong tug at the cord. The slats bunched up into one neat pile at the top of the window frame and the light poured in and hit Steve in a large golden square. Steve rolled over and whined throatily at the intrusive light.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." He leered. "Was that insensitive of me?" Bucky placed his hands on his hips and stood in front of the light, casting an overbearing shadow on Steve.

Steve stared up at his friend and sat up in bed smiling hazily at him, his eyes shut and his hair askew and ruffled.

"Breakfast is ready," Bucky uttered quietly, slipping his hands in his jogger pockets and smiling down at the floor and then looking back at Steve with loving blue eyes, full of age and tiredness.

He was so pleased that Steve was talking again. He was even happier that Steve was talking to him. It had taken so long for Steve to open up about Peggy and he was relieved that he had. He could support Steve like no one else ever could. There had been difficult nights where all he could do was sit quietly and listen but there were others where he could offer useful advice and support.