Jo can’t sleep without having nightmares, so Bucky suggests an alternative coping mechanism
to alcohol..
⚠
A little mild flirting, but it’s really just a fluffy scene with two people sleeping together.
Now that the couch was free again at night, Jo had started camping out there from time to time, at least for part of the night while she tried to avoid sleep. She usually stayed out late, or waited until her roommates had gone to their rooms before she headed into their little common room, and often spent her time drinking her way through some of the alcohol she’d spent a large part of her ‘Disney’ funds on. It was the best way she knew how to kill the nightmares, at least for times like this when she wasn’t hunting something or working out her energy in other ways.
It was late even now, sometime after one in the morning, and she was a quarter of the way through a bottle of whiskey when she heard one of her roommate’s doors open behind her. Instead of greeting whoever it was - because maybe they just wanted to grab food or whatever, she stayed quiet and if anything sank a little deeper into the cushions of the couch. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top, and her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face for optimal drinking.
There were many nights that Bucky was grateful for the sound proofing in the bedrooms. And that Five was such a heavy sleeper. Or maybe screams just didn't bother him. In any case, Bucky was done with sleep for the night. He crept out of the bedroom, feet bare, wearing soft microfleece pants from Disney and a long-sleeved, loose-fitting Henley that he couldn't remember where he'd picked up.
He started for the coffee maker, but paused, Spotting the figure on the couch, he turned and gently leaned on the back, aware that he was towering over right now, and cleared his throat. "Hey. You alright?"
He liked Jo. She seemed kind and had a good sense of humor, but it was more the deep well of inner strength she seemed to project -- without even being aware of it.
Okay, so hiding wasn’t going to work. After biting back a sigh, Jo tipped her head back to peer up at him, then leaned back a little further since he was still really so much taller than her right now.
“Sure. Or I will be once I stop leaning back like this, because this angle is going to hurt pretty soon,” she joked, flashing a faint smile at him. “Just - having some drinks and riding out the clock until I can pass out.” Without any nightmares, if she was lucky.
Bucky arched a brow. "Drinking never helped me. Usually makes the nightmares worse. Harder to wake up from." He moved around the couch and settled in a bit apart, but beside her on the couch.
“You want to talk about it?" The offer was genuine, even if he didn't think she would accept. He wasn't particularly interested in talking about his own... everything.
“Drink enough and you pass out into a dreamless sleep. Or at least, I do,” she replied, resettling against her end of the couch as he walked around and sat. At the question, Jo thought about it for a moment, then shook her head and held the bottle out to him.
“It’s not really anything exciting. Just - your general run-of-the-mill trauma so many of us around here seem to have shown up with.”
Bucky accepted the bottle, but only took a small sip. It was wasted on him, since he wouldn’t feel the effects without Eliot’s special concoctions, but it was definitely in solidarity. The bottle felt tiny in his hands, so he was extra careful in handing it back, even crossing over his body to use his right arm so the left wouldn’t crush it by mistake. “Makes you wonder if trauma is the criteria that makes this place take us, or if everyone’s generally fucked up in their own way.” He considered that for a moment. “Though there must be some kind of sliding scale. Some people seem fairly well-adjusted.” On the outside, at least. Perhaps just better at hiding their trauma.
He let out a breath, looking at her. “Y’know, it’s gotta be the size thing, but right now, you remind me of my youngest sister. She had brown hair, but…” He shrugged. “I was twelve when she was born, so it’s mostly the height.” And some of the personality. Becca had also been fierce in her way. Formidable.
The bottle was a little large for Jo in her own current state, but she took it easily enough and took another sip herself - longer than his. A humorless smile crossed her lips, and she shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe there is. There seem to be plenty of us who died before we got here - and then some of us died all over again after getting here, so you’re probably right.” Would she be better adjusted if she hadn’t died a second time? Jo wasn’t really sure.
“Your sister, huh?” And didn’t that twist just a little bit in the gut? Years ago, the brother of the guy she’d once had a thing for had shown up and tossed her crush in her face, then told her that his brother only saw her as a sister. The parallels of that conversation and this were hard to get past for the moment, but after a couple minutes she finally shook her head a little and grinned faintly.
“I get that a lot.”
Bucky snickered. “She had a lot of guts, too. Mostly, it’s the size, though.” He found his book in his pocket and set it on his lap. “I hope you don’t mind some company. I don’t think sleep is gonna happen for the rest of the night.”
He remembered reading The Hobbit back before the war, and had heard about the movies that were made of the other books, but Bucky had enjoyed the hell out of The Hobbit and wanted to read the Lord of the Rings series before he looked at the movies. He’d found a bookstore not far from the Disney grounds, so he’d picked it up for nights like this.
He paused for a moment, then glanced at the book, then at Jo. “If you want to stop drinking, I think I know a way to help you sleep and keep the nightmares away.”
“Company’s fine,” she replied, still smiling a little at the comparison - though she really hoped there wasn’t quite that much of a height difference between him and his sister. Not like now, at least. It was her turn to arch a brow at his words and after studying Bucky for a couple minutes, Jo slowly put the top back on the whiskey, then set it on the coffee table in front of them.
“Alright, I’m willing to try something else. For tonight, at least.”
Bucky gave her a small smile and held up the book. "Let me read to you for a while. Can't hurt, right? And I'll Stay here to keep the nightmares away."
He smirked. "I can be pretty intimidating when I want to be."
“‘The Hobbit’,” she read from the cover, then smiled. “I don’t think I’ve read that in ages myself. I saw while we were at Disney that there were movies made. They split it into a trilogy,” Jo added with a shake of her head, but curled up against the arm of the couch and turned her attention to him.
“And here I thought you were a fluffy marshmallow,” she said dryly with a smirk of her own, then gestured for him to go ahead and start. If anything, maybe it’d help.
"Oh, this was one of my favorites. I read it when it was first published. In 1937." Bucky chuckled. “Kinda strange to know it's still a big thing. Good, but strange. I wanted to reread this one before I read the sequel trilogy. Or saw those movies."
He'd already gotten a few chapters in on his own, but turned the book back to the opening pages. So that Jo wouldn't miss a word.
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
His voice was low and deep, but given inflection and interest as a good storyteller would. He kept his volume low, Since the point was to help Jo get to sleep.
“Seriously? Then you look pretty good for your age,” she told him. Great, not only was he out of her league, but he was also out of her age range. No wonder she reminded him of his kid sister. Pushing those thoughts aside, Jo grinned a little. “You’ll like them - they did pretty good with them. The Lord of the Rings ones, anyway.”
Falling silent as he flipped back to the beginning, Jo watched him while he read, then eventually shifted so that she could see the book too, leaning against him just a bit. He was surprisingly good at this, and after several minutes she closed her eyes so she was just listening to his voice. Jo didn’t really want to fall asleep this early, since it meant that the nightmares were more likely to come, but she was starting to think she wouldn’t have much of a choice the longer Bucky read.
"Hundred and six, last I checked. Who knows how time works here? But I spent most of that time frozen, so it doesn't really count.” Bucky shifted a bit to let Jo settle more comfortably against him. As he continued, reading about the dwarves' impromptu dinner party at poor Bilbo's home, he gently brushed her hair out of her face.
He'd always liked reading, and reading to someone else had been a lifelong skill - from his younger sisters to Steve, when he'd been confined to bed rest. He had slightly different voices for each character and managed to keep them mostly consistent.
He could feel Jo starting to drift and gave her a protective squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll keep the nightmares away. All night."
“Definitely looking good for your age,” she muttered, amused by the fact that she herself wasn’t really all that surprised. Honestly, Jo couldn’t imagine getting to be that age someday herself.
The brush against her hair dragged her eyes back open for a moment, before she gave a faint smile, though at the angle she was he probably couldn’t really see it. The promise and the squeeze both helped relax her a bit more, and Jo gave a faint nod of agreement.
“You’ve got a deal,” she told him quietly, before her eyes drifted shut again. Before he’d gotten a few more pages in, she was sound asleep.
Bucky continued reading for several more pages even after hed felt her fall asleep. He let his voice lower until he was reading only to himself, but left his hand on her shoulder. At any hitch in her breathing, or twitch of her muscles, he started to read aloud again, hand moving gently to reassure her sleeping mind of his presence, his promise. If he could give her even one night of reprieve from the demons that haunted her, it would be worth it.
He'd slept well enough the past few nights. He could very well manage a few days without sleep before even getting uncomfortable.
It was probably the best night’s sleep Jo had been able to have since she’d first shown up here in Derleth. There were a few times during the night that the nightmares threatened to come back - whether it be of the hellhounds or of not!Ted strangling her - but each time she eventually relaxed again thanks to Bucky.
By the time morning came around and she stirred from sleep, Jo felt refreshed - even if it was a little strange to wake up cuddled against an attractive guy who was still several feet taller than usual. Blinking a couple of times, she lifted her head from where it was nestled against his side, and she pushed some hair out of her face. “What time’s it?” She asked, before being cut off by a soft yawn.
Bucky had finished the book shortly before down, but rather than get up for another, he simply started again. When Jo began to rouse, he brushed the hair from her face and smiled. "It's just after 9 in the morning. l can make some coffee, if you like." He needed some himself.
"Sleep well?" It seemed she had. At least, she hadn't cried out or whimpered or given any of the usual signs of someone in the grips of a nightmare.
“Coffee sounds like heaven,” she replied, sitting up more and taking a minute to stretch out slowly before answering his question.
“Um...yeah, I think I did.” Jo tilted her head as she thought about that for just a second, then flashed a smile at him. “Yeah. I don’t remember the last time I slept that well, actually.” It took a little maneuvering, but she managed to shift onto her knees and before she could second guess herself, Jo leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you.”
Bucky gave her a smile and a gentle half hug. "You're welcome. We can look for some audiobooks for you for regular nights, but if they don't work, just let me know when you need a break from the nightmares, okay? I will do this when you need, Jo, I promise."
That said, he got to his feet and headed for the coffee maker. He wasn't the only one who needed it, but he was the only one tall enough to operate it right now.
“If there are any audiobooks around here,” she replied dryly, but nodded. As he got up, she did the same to head for the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair before rejoining him in the kitchen in time to get the coffee. If there were more nights and mornings like this in her future, she was pretty much all for it.