Alive but not Awake || Bucky Barnes [1]

Who was that?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Alive but not Awake | Who was that?

Bucky and Steve rode side by side on their motorcycles back towards their shared two-bedroomed, two-bathed semi-modern apartment. They had met back up for a quick supper at the nearest diner as Steve left the old-age home where Peggy resided at. Peggy wasn't able to take care of herself anymore; thanks to the dementia she had been diagnosed with several years ago – shortly after her husband passed away in a peaceful sleep.

Bucky had stayed at the museum for hours after Steve left him, he read everything there was to do with his Ava; everything between pictures to the stuff people were able to acquire without his and Steve's personal help. His thoughts had kept drifting to the past as he had read on. The first thought that had come to his mind was when Steve and Bucky were about to meet their demise to save New York. It was 'I'll get to see my Ava again,' but when he opened his eyes – both him and Steve were in a completely different place and there was no Ava in sight. He hadn't been much of his lively self ever since Ava was gone, obviously Steve hadn't either but Peggy was helping him through it. Now, both super-soldiers were hiding their emotions for Ava - hidden deep-down in their hearts – and if they were to tap into them, it would probably crush them knowing that she was still gone. Bucky was sure that if Ava was able to come back to him, he would literally kiss the ground in front of all the public – even if it meant humiliating himself in front of millions of people. He would never get that chance though, Ava never got the same serum as he and Steve did – there was no way she was able to survive that fall.

Bucky and Steve parked outside their building and turned both of their engines off before getting of the moving machines. They trotted together as they went up the inner stairway of their apartment building, it was dark but it was cozy for them. It gave them a lot less chance of being noticed as well as they weren't in the expensive part of town – neither of them enjoyed much of the attention, they merely put up with it to make people happy and safe.

The two friends started to slow down in their pace as they came upon one of their neighbours – she was a pretty, short blonde; someone Bucky had noticed Steve had spent an adequate time talking too. The blonde, Kate – she was wearing nurse type of clothing as she held the phone in one hand up to her ear – there was a fully-loaded washing basket under her other arm which made her body bend slightly to avoid it slipping away. "I gotta go-" Kate said into the speaker phone, noticing the two boys walking past her to get to their apartment door. She smiled slightly as she looked up, looking a little flushed with embarrassment as they had to hear her in a conversation over the phone, "My aunt," She bluntly told the boys, like it was explaining everything. "She's kind of an insomniac."

Bucky grinned before nudging Steve when Kate looked down at her bucket of laundry to put the phone it there, Steve looked up at him in question. Bucky rolled his eyes, gesturing silently to the bucket of laundry.

Steve looked a little hesitant for a moment before looking back at Kate, "You know, umm-" He began as he tried to gain some confidence, "You could always use our machine, if you wanted to of course." Bucky smirked at his best friend's terrible flirting, it hadn't change a bit. "It might even be cheaper than the one in the basement."

"Oh, yeah?" Kate raised an eyebrow, she seemed very flattered at his offer. "How much does it cost?" She put a little teasing note in her words. Steve looked blank, no ideas came to mind– he never was good with girls, unless you count Peggy of course but even then he was terrible at dazzling her to begin with.

Bucky looked between the both of them, rolling his eyes internally knowing Steve had no idea what to say next so he turned to Kate himself, "How about a coffee between the two of you." He shrugged, "Or let Stevie take you on a date." He ignored the small glare Steve threw his way but Bucky was laughing on the inside with amusement.