Entwined | Bucky Barnes *On Hold*

Chapter Eighteen

~Bucky's POV~

"And you're going to go to sleep."

D'Arcy shook her head quickly, and furiously began signing, "no! I'm not tired. I'm wide awake!"

"I don't care if you're wide awake babydoll," I ruffled her hair as I saw the beginnings of her huff turn into a tantrum. "We're up early tomorrow and that means you go to bed now."

"But-"

"No." I looked at her, challenging her to say no one more time. She relented though, and shuffled back to her room with a knitted toy of Brian the cat clasped in her arms.

I sighed, and rubbed at my brows as the beginning of a headache began to thump at my skull. It was too late, every one was too tired and I was too hungry to deal with D'Arcy and Owen stropping about not wanting to go to bed.

The Tower was the safest place for them, but they were so excited at the prospect of being surrounded by the Avengers to want to have a reasonable bedtime. Amelie and I had debated letting them stay up late, but when I won the argument for sending them to bed now, she'd told me I would have to put them to bed alone.

At first I didn't mind - I knew Amelie would say goodnight to them both before she went to bed, but I didn't realise how difficult it would be to physically keep them in the spare room of our old floor.

I scrubbed a hand through my hair and wandered back to the smaller kitchen, tapping my fingers along the cupboards that I hadn't used since me and Amelie had packed up to live elsewhere.

Gentle footsteps broke into the silence, and I turned to see River wrapped up in a huge jumper and pyjama bottoms, shielding her scars from the stares of the others. Not that they would judge, but she was only just exposing them to us. "You okay?" I checked, "you flaked on dinner."

"I heard you did too." She smiled softly, "Amelie told me you conveniently disappeared when Bruce helped make pizza bases for everyone to decorate and eat."

I shrugged, before leaning against the counter. "Whats up?"

Her cheeks flamed red as she glanced around the room, her shoulders bunching up to her ears as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I was wondering if... if David and I could... maybe-"

"You can take my old floor." I grinned, "don't ask."

"We're not going to-" I held my hands over my ears and stuck my tongue out childishly at her, copying D'Arcys teasing face.

"If you are, then look in the bathroom." I hinted, "second cupboard next to the sink."

River frowned before groaning, and pushed my arm away as I walked past her. I tackled her into a hug, ruffling her hair up as she grumbled about me being too old to act like this.

She stepped out of the lift before I did, to investigate the floor I used to sleep on before I claimed half of Amelies bed and her rooms.

Amelie herself wasn't on the shared floors, so I slowly traipsed back down each level, checking any room where I figured she my disappear to, before I reached the stretch of bedrooms.

One bedroom per Avenger, stretching the length of an entire floor. The narrow hallway was brightly lit, though I knew for a fact most of the people who had these bedrooms also had their own floors.

I tapped the small paper redwing bird that hung from Sam's door handle, before knocking on the door next to it.

A noise similar to that hairy creature from the star films that Peter loves, answered my knocking, and I took that as an invitation to open the door. Amelie was curled up on the chair by the window, feet tucked under her legs as she held a cup of tea in one hand and one of Starks tablets in the other.