Welcome To Night Vale (Stucky- High School AU)

Chapter 8: I Guess I Should Have Told Ma Sooner

A/N: Okay, I'm trying but I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this. Thank GOD school's almost over. Let's play a game of 'Try not to Cringe'.

I don't exactly know how long I was asleep. You know that kind feeling when you wake up and you may as well be on another planet because of how groggy and unresponsive you are? Yeah, I felt like that. Just more of a headache and less of a 'floating and space' feeling. The only grounding I could feel was a pair of strong arms around me and the smell of Bucky.  His breathing wasn't completely even, so I knew he was at least somewhat conscious.  I started to try to roll over to face him when he spoke.

"Is sleeping beauty finally awake?" he teased and anyone could hear the smile on his face.

"I could literally hit you, right now."

"I know," he chuckled and loosened his grip. "Do you feel a little bit better, at least?" The mom instincts have finally kicked in.

Thinking for a second, I evaluated myself.  Yeah, I had a headache and felt a little sore all over, but aside from that the complete fatigue that had taken over my body the hours before seemed to have left for a bit.

"Actually, yeah," I started to push myself up from the mattress when a quick wave of nausea flooded my head. "Just a small headache." All at once, the room got too bright. Bucky was up within seconds. He promised to get some ibuprofen and disappeared before I had a chance to protest. 

Sinking my head into the pillow and rolling onto my back, I closed my eyes and focused on the comforting smell of Irish Spring on the pillows, hoping they wouldn't need to get washed so soon. Somehow I had almost fallen back asleep until he came into the room again, carrying some pills and a glass of water.

"Here, drink a lot of this," he held the glass of water and motioned for me to open my mouth.

"Nah," I accepted the painkillers and took the water draining the glass. Placing the empty cup somewhere on the floor I grabbed his hand and dragged him back down. He settled back in his place before and I buried my head in his t-shirt, enjoying the absence of the leather jacket. He probably took it off when I was incapacitated. He wrapped his arms around me again and quickly we both relaxed until all there was,  was light breathing.

I fell asleep again, unsurprisingly, and we stayed that way until there was a knocking on my door.

Bucky shot up right as my Ma rushed in with a basket of clothes. She gaped at us for what felt like eons.  The headache from earlier was gone and replaced with an awkward panic. Bucky was looked ready to jump out the window. 

Ma finally spoke, but it was obvious she had no other words.

"This is new." 

I cleared my throat, trying to gather something to say other than a guttural scream. 

"Hi, ma."

There may as well be crickets in the room. Her shock finally passed, and she exhaled.

"Well, Bucky why don't you stay for dinner, and we can all talk?"

"No, really it's okay Mrs. Rogers, I should probably get go-"

"Please, James," there was no anger in her voice, just a minuscule sense of urgency. She set the basket of clothes next to the door and disappeared, closing it behind her. As soon as she was down the hall and out of earshot, I jumped out of bed, trying not to sway too much. Both of our clothes were wrinkled from huddling together. Buck followed suit, trying to straighten ourselves (haha) as much as possible to prove we were just sleeping.

A presentable as we were going to get, we went to the kitchen and helped prepare dinner.

Ma was almost done preparing and we rushed around each other to set the table. When we sat down together, it even more awkward than before. The silence was deafening until I opened up my dumb mouth.

"We didn't do anything." I blurted out and then held my breath. Bucky looked absolutely, positively mortified. Both of our faces flamed a bright crimson.

Ma gave me a look and just started laughing, doubling over, trying to keep her hair out of her spaghetti. I am sure I didn't breathe for the entire time. Once she finally gained her composure, she breathily reassured me. 

"Darling, I hadn't suspected but thank you for clearing it up," she tried to even her voice, still shaking from the fit of laughter.

I stammered out some nonsense and Bucky sat staring at her with a constant look of alarm. She continued and we both calmed down a minuscule bit.

"Honestly, I knew there was something going on, I just wanted to wait for you two to be ready to tell me. Now what I wasn't expecting was to come home to that." She finished with a soft smile. I breathed a little easier.

"So," I spoke a little bit more cautious than I needed to. "It's fine, and you're not mad?"

She sighed. "Of course I'm not mad. You're my son. I love you no matter what." She finished the thought quite matter of factly and then addressed Bucky. "James, are your parents aware your relationship?"

He cleared his throat, choking in the process. "Not yet, ma'am, but they won't mind."

She nodded, satisfied with the response, and changed the subject with ease. "Steve, you mentioned you've started a new project in art class last week, right? How is it going?"

"It's going," I laughed nervously. "It isn't coming out quite how I want it to-"

"Bullshit!" Bucky interjected. "It's amazing! I don't know art crap, but if it doesn't get a 108%, I'm going to confront Mrs. Danvers with a powerpoint." Ma chuckled.

"I'm sure it's going to be fine. You've got a good eye. It'll all turn out." The twinkle in her eye hinted that she wasn't just talking about the art project.

It continued like that with playful banter and laughter until dinner was finished, and cleaned up. Bucky turned to me when my Ma turned her back.

"I should probably get going. Becca has some speech she wanted to practice on me and she'll freak if I'm not home before her bedtime." I nodded.

"I'll go with you to get your stuff." He followed me to my room where we gathered the remnants from the mess after we left school. He was about to sling his bag over his shoulder to walk out, but he faltered. Without warning, he grabbed me by the waist and kissed me, soft and sweet. Taken aback, all I could do is nod when he told me to get some rest, and he disappeared.

Ma knocked softly on the door, and I opened the door wider. I sat on my bed, still in my clothes from the day, and she sat beside me. I leaned my head on her shoulder.

"So do you want to tell me why you were passed out like a zombie?"

All I could do is yawn in response.

"We'll talk tomorrow. You need some more sleep." She let me fall to the bed and soundlessly, I wrapped the threadbare blankets around my shoulders and fell asleep thinking of Bucky's kiss and his cologne on my sheets. I didn't hear her leave.

A/N: It was a wild ride. W I L D. But this got to over 1000 words niCE. I kind of had it for a bit, and then I lost it, but it's fine. I think it'll turn out alright.