True North [Stucky Fanfiction - IN PROGRESS]

26 - The Gap

Bucky's not even fully conscious when the pain kicks in. He groans and arches his back, swearing in Russian under his breath. His vision is blurry when he first opens his eyes, but after a couple seconds of rapid blinking, he has a chance to observe the room around him. The first thing he sees is a collection of picture frames on the opposite wall, each containing a different sketch. One is of a line of flowers, the next is a larger picture of some skyline, yet another is a startlingly accurate drawing of a dog. Bucky remembers; Steve's bedroom.

He pulls an unattractive face as he struggles to sit up. The knife wound in his shoulder protests with a sharp flash of pain, not to mention the various bruises and cuts across the rest of his body that still ache. He pushes the blankets partially off of his chest, just enough to examine one of the shallow knife cuts that had found its mark. Much to his relief, it's almost completely healed, with only a pink-toned scab marking a line up his stomach. That's a good sign.

There are footsteps in the hallway and then Steve appears in the doorframe. "Bucky!" The blond exclaims, stepping inside quickly. "Are you feeling alright?"

Bucky grunts in response as he disturbs the knife wound yet again. "Could be better. You wouldn't have some Anacin or OxyContin, would you?"

"Unfortunately, no. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the ice and found out that stuff was illegal. Hell, people used to take methamphetamines all the time in the war just to stay awake during the fighting. Give it a few decades and suddenly I find out they're not only highly addictive, but illegal. I'm lucky that they wouldn't work on me because I probably would have taken them if I didn't have the serum."

"If you think I would have let you take one more pill if you didn't absolutely need it, you're wrong."

Steve grabs a washcloth from his back pocket and leans over the bed, dabbing beads of sweat from Bucky's forehead. The brunet protests quietly, pushing his hand away begrudgingly. "If you thought it would help, you'd let me take it," Steve says. "Remember the one time my doctor told me to take some random pill for my heart palpitations? You thought the dosage was way too high when I told you about it later, but I was so sure I was old enough for the adult dosage that I didn't even stop to consider my weight. And what do you know, I started having bouts of unconsciousness and confusion and all that, and you took me to a different doctor and what do you know! It was the wrong dose, and you were right the whole time."

Bucky's mouth quirks up in what would probably resemble a smile if it wasn't for all the bandages. "You should listen to me more."

"I do." Steve leans forward, planting a small kiss on Bucky's chapped lips. When he pulls away, there's a teasing glint in his eyes. "However, listening to me every once in a while could do you a world of good too. So, I hate to make you get up, but we're gonna go to the tower soon. I got some tech off the assassin lady and I bet either Natasha or Sasha knows something that could help us, so I'm gonna have it checked out there."

Bucky's not too enthusiastic about the idea of getting out of bed, but in an effort to not sound pathetic, he just groans. "And I'm going too?"

"There's better medical supplies there. I'll swap out some of the... well, I'd say gauze, but it's really just hand wraps I use for boxing. I'll swap out the wraps for actual gauze and maybe spring for some disinfectant."

Bucky curses, but it's all in good nature. "Fine. I need a shower while I'm there anyway."

The pair makes some light small talk until Steve finally decides to clean up before they go, leaving Bucky to get up on his own. He kicks the blankets toward the end of the bed — regretting it instantly as his sore legs remind him that moving fast is not a good idea — and stumbles out of bed, having to brace himself on the windowsill. He looks out through the glass at the low sun. He must've been out for a while.