Who: Bucky Barnes (PH) & Peggy Carter When: June 8th, 2018 (Backdated) Where: Miller's Woods What: They both need a break and so of course they go out in the middle of the night into the woods to go get high and star gaze. Warnings: Marijuana Use Status: Complete
Bucky felt no kind of self-consciousness as he threw a pebble at the window he knew to be Peggy's bedroom window. Yeah, it was the middle of the night, and, yeah, he had no business harassing her in the middle of the night, but he couldn't sleep and she was quickly becoming his go-to person for when he was restless and needed to stir shit up.
Reaching down for another pebble, he let it fly, and stage whispered in the direction of the window. "Peggy! Peggy, you up?" His next step wouldn't be the common sense one where he called her by phone. No, his next step if she didn't wake up with this method would be to climb up the tree at the side of her house and break into her room.
Because that was completely normal.
Thankfully, Peggy Carter had never been a light sleeper. Or perhaps there had a been a time when she was younger, before the war, that she might have been so, but too many years chasing down Nazis in the backwoods of Europe and then the variety of antics in the States had promptly ensured she woke at the slightest noise. It took a moment for her to realize what the sound was that woke her and she released her grip on the gun she kept securely tucked away on the side of her bed.
The voice that followed wasn’t that surprising either. Bucky was the only person she could think of who would be throwing pebbles at her window at--she glances at the radio clock on her nightstand--such an ungodly hour.
Wrapping her robe around her she made her way to the window and opened it. “I suppose I should be grateful that you’re not standing there with an old boombox right now.”
“John Cusack wishes he looked like me,” Bucky snorted, as he leaned back on his heels and peered up at the brunette at the window, throwing out an arm. “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Peggy needs to come down here and entertain me.” Bucky had literally no chill and was vibrating with energy that he didn’t know what to do with. Sleepless nights were pretty common for him, between not needing as many as normal people and the nightmares of all the horrific shit he had seen in his very long lifetime. Most nights, he ended up in the living room with Netflix.
Tonight, he needed something more.
“Want to go up on a hill by Miller’s Woods and smoke some hobbit weed?” He asked, playing at being the devil right then. He was embodying the man he used to be, the boy all the moms in Brooklyn warned their daughters about in the 30s. It was freeing, to not be expected to be the soldier, the weapon he had become over the years. It was nice being just Bucky, some days.
She rolled her eyes at his theatrics, before letting out a long sigh. Peggy was well aware that there would be no shooing him away when he was like this and she couldn’t really fault him for not wanting to sleep. All of them had their own nightmares, but none were ever going to be as damaging as his were. She couldn’t truly fault him for needing to figure out ways to avoid trying to get some more shut eye.
“I’ll be a few minutes.” She held up a hand, wagging a finger at him for a moment before pointing to the ground he was on. “Stay there and do try to keep quiet.” Surely there were some people attempting to get some sleep, Mr. Jarvis no doubt being one of them.
Closing the window before she could get any kind of answer, Peggy took a few moments to wrangle on jeans, shoes, and a t-shirt before making her way out of the house. “You’re rather ridiculous, James Buchanan Barnes,” she told him as she wrestled her hair into a ponytail.
If she had taken even a minute longer, there had been a very good chance there would have been an incident involving that tree, window, and Peggy decking him. He was impatiently waiting at the front door when she finally got out there, leaning against his SUV. He had decided against the motorcycle only because of the late hour and the fact that they would be smoking.
“Ridiculous?” He asked, eyes a little too wide, voice a little too high pitched to be believable. “Me? I’m a little offended. I”m serious all of the time. Ask anyone, they’ll vouch for me.” Except no, he was fucking ridiculous and everyone knew it. Only a little bit of that was for show, to look like things were okay so people didn’t question his mental health.
Turning and pulling the passenger side door open, he held it open for her like the gentleman he wasn’t. “Shall we?”
She shook her head, trying her hardest not to smile and failing at it. “I suppose we shall.” It was probably best to get inside of the SUV as fast as she could so they didn’t accidentally wake the rest of the street. Maintaining an easy acquaintanceship with the neighbors was high on her priority list. The last thing Peggy wanted was people sticking their nose into her business, especially when she worked at what was supposed to be the defunct base.
“Are we going to discuss what it is that has you awake tonight or are we working to simply forget that part right now?” she asked once he was inside as well.
Going around to the driver’s side and getting in, the engine quietly came to life and he kept the headlights dimmer than he normally would until they were out of the neighborhood. Bucky didn’t answer her immediately, but after a few long moments of silence, he explained, “Thanos. I keep seeing Steve’s face and then there’s nothing. I keep falling asleep and waking up screaming about facing that nothingness so I just decided sleep isn’t on the agenda tonight.”
It was hard talking about this with Steve because they were just starting to get back on track to be friends again, but Peggy? It was almost too easy to be honest about his thoughts, fears, and feelings with her. He was pretty sure he was taking advantage of her friendship in some way, putting an emotional burden on her that he didn’t need to. But he also trusted her to tell him if it was ever too much.
“Anyway, I haven’t kidnapped you for an outing in awhile. I thought it was time.” He peered over at her briefly, before returning his eyes to the road. “You’ve been working too hard at the Bureau, so I think you need this as much as I do.”
Ah. Peggy had only heard the basics about what had happened in the future that so many of their universe had been updated about. She might have watched her funeral play out on screen but actually experiencing one’s...disappearance had to be much more unsettling. She wasn’t entirely sure how any of them were actually managing to cope with experiencing that or watching others they knew and loved disappear around them.
“I can’t imagine there would be any comfort in the darkness after reliving that moment of your life.” She glanced over at him, trying to take note of how he looked, if there were any signs of exhaustion or depression creeping into that face and posture of his. His goofy persona could be very good at covering those up from time to time if one didn’t know how to look for the signs.
“I have been a bit waist deep in my work for a few days now.” More like weeks but accuracy be damned. “So it looks as though this little kidnapping might do us both some good.” They usually did anyway.
Anyone that knew him well enough knew exactly how to get a look under the mask he wore. There was a tightness to his eyes that betrayed exactly how much his nightmare memories were haunting him, but it wasn't a spiral of despair either. Not like the time he got his first Winter Soldier update. This anxiety, thankfully, was manageable.
He hadn't felt himself die, but it hadn't been hard to put together what happened to him, what Rhodes had confirmed for him when Steve couldn't or wouldn't. And yet, somehow it wasn't as devastating to find out he was gone than it had been to find out what he had done as the Winter Soldier.
Glancing over at her, he snorted. “More like weeks. You know you don't get any rewards for putting in more hours than you need to, right?” Tumbleweed may have grown while they had been gone, but they were nearing Miller's Woods pretty quickly. The hill that he had scouted out on an earlier trip out there was only a few more minutes away.
“Mmmm,” she murmured, neither confirming or denying what he was saying. Her life had become her work at some point down the line and there was very little chance of her ever breaking out of that habit. Even in Tumbleweed where it probably wasn’t as necessary to put in the hours that she tended to do each week. They might not have needed one of the team leads at the base every waking second but that didn’t mean Peggy liked leaving it without one of them there. Being on call was good in theory but she had seen how quickly events could spiral out of control.
The last thing she wanted was a repeat of what Natasha had found the day they arrived back in Tumbleweed. Not that constantly being around the base could truly prevent the deaths that had occurred.
“I hope you brought us some snacks as well.” A little change in the subject might do them both some good.
“Nice non-answer,” Bucky teased, though he let the subject drop since she had been kind enough to let the Thanos update drop for him. If they could just avoid talking about the shit that was dragging them down for one night, they could just enjoy spending this time together instead of dwelling on how they got to this point. They both had enough people prodding to talk otherwise.
Jerking a thumb to the backseat of the SUV, he explained, “You think I came unprepared? I’m no rookie.” The seat was littered with junk food. Bucky may have been replacing his drinking with eating, but this was a more manageable addiction. At least his super soldier metabolism, for the most part, prevented him from becoming a balloon. There was a definitely softness to him though, that hadn’t been there a month or so ago. It looked good on him.
Finally parking on the hill, he cut the engine and got out. He went around back to grab a blanket he had been smart enough to bring and called out to her, “Want to bunk it on the ground or want me to pop the trunk and push the seats back?”
Peggy had shifted so that she could hang over the space between the two front seats and was perusing his snack choices. Not bad. She had to give him a few points for the variety of kinds and flavors. Though she was definitely stealing those Cheetos for herself. If anyone asked her how she might have seen her evening play out she would never have guessed she would end up in the middle of the woods with Bucky. Though considering the other random outings they had going under their belt it didn’t exactly surprise her either.
At least someone was able to help pull her out of the dreadful box of routine she had managed to carve out for herself again. But decisions, decisions about where to set up for the next few hours. As nice as the trunk sounded she also knew it would be a bitch to get the smell out once they were done.
“Let’s do the ground,” she told him as she got out, arms full of various food items. “We can spread out the food more.”
“You got a point,” he said, dropping the blanket onto the grass after making sure there wasn't anything creepy, crawly, or trashy where they were going to set up. After grabbing the rest of the snacks and tossing them onto the blanket, he knelt next to their haul and pulled the baggie of joints out of his jeans pocket. A zippo followed and it didn't take him long to light it up.
Taking the first drag, holding, and then slowly exhaling, he visibly became more relaxed. Offering it to Peggy when she joined him, he glanced back at the blanket. When he was sure he wasn't going to crush anything, he leaned back until he was laying on the ground.
“Thanks,” he said, once they were both settled. “You didn't have to come, but you did anyway.”
Her gaze was on the vast expanse of darkness before them, waiting for her eyes to really adjust so that she could make out the various trees and other plants. The stress of the last few weeks seemed to leave her body as she exhaled, letting her shoulders relax as she handed it back to him.
“We both know at this point, that if you show up I’m going to join in,” she told him, las she finally leaned back against the ground.
How else was she going to get any kind of adventure in this place? As much as Peggy detested desk jobs they appeared to be what she was landing more often than not since the war had ended. The brief flirtations with actual field work here and there taunted her for the adrenaline rush that her life had once been. She wasn’t entirely sure what that said about her at times, but she wasn’t actively trying to change it.
There was probably a little bit more smugness than necessary when he said, “I'm taking that as a compliment and you can't take that away from me.” A bump to her shoulder with his own was followed by him passing the joint back, as he stared up at the sky.
It was gorgeous, the view, but a small part of him wondered if there existed something terrible like Thanos out there. Was it only a matter of time this world went to shit as well?
Another long drag and she exhaled slowly, closing her eyes as she held the joint out for him to take. If she allowed it, Peggy was well aware her mind could wander to a thousand different thoughts she wasn’t too keen on exploring.
Instead, she turned toward an age old game. “Favorite new movie?”
“No judging me - Up.” That movie had made him cry. “Favorite new singer?”
“Were you able to make it through the first five minutes without shedding a tear?” Because she hadn’t been. “Pink. Favorite new invention?”
“Only someone without a heart could make it through the first five minutes without shedding a tear.” Which was answer enough, he figured. “Twitter. Favorite Backstreet Boy?”
“I haven't had much experience with Twitter yet.” Nor did she think she wanted to. “What exactly is a Backstreet Boy?”
“You’re killing me, Peg,” Bucky groaned, while passing the joint back to her. “How have you been in the 21st century for even and hour without hearing about them?”
“Considering you seem so partial to them, I’m going to count myself lucky for having no clue what you’re groaning about.” She sat back up, tearing open the bag of Cheetos. She would need to run a few extra miles tomorrow but the junk food was worth it.
“Clearly you haven’t lived in a house full of 21st century teenage girls.” And his life had become better for it, honestly. Even if he whined about it sometimes. “Gimme,” he added, making grabby hands at the Cheetos.
“I live with a man who asked me if he was too effeminate the other day, so that should tell you all you need to know about my living situation.” She kept the bag close to her chest and tossed him one of Doritos instead. “I’m afraid this bag is the price for allowing you to kidnap me so I won’t be sharing.” And then she deliberately ate one.
The snort/chuckle that left Bucky was a noise she probably had never heard before. “Wait, what? Jarvis, right? What happened now?” Yeah, he had a gossipy streak in him, he wouldn’t deny it. Catching the Doritos and mournfully looking at the Cheetos, he bided his time and waited for when he would attack her for those cheesy puffs.
“Apparently he was asked by two separate people for dances at the ball and it has managed to...I believe the term is ‘freaked him out’.” She rolled her eyes, the entire ordeal rather ridiculous to her, and dug another handful of Cheetos out to munch on. “I’m sure he’ll work himself through it all with a bit of time.”
“Oh ha. I was one of them, I think.” Buck was grinning, looking a little embarrassed. “Remember when you went off to talk to him? I got bored of waiting for you two to finish up so I asked him to dance. I think it shocked him? I don't know, I backed off after because it wasn't anything serious. Guess he's still not used to people being a lot more open?”
Peggy snorted before nearly falling over because of how hard she was laughing. “I should have known you were one of the ones to ask. He didn’t say who had but I had my suspicions.” She didn’t even care how badly she was crushing the Cheetos in that moment as she continued to erupt into more giggles. “But no, he really isn’t used to any of it quite yet.” Though hopefully it wouldn’t take him too long to adjust to how things had changed since their time.
“I’ll make it a point to steer clear of him,” Bucky said, before reaching over and plucking the bag of Cheetos away from Peggy while she was distracted. Grinning mischievously at her, he reached in and grabbed a few to chow down on.
She mocked gasped before grabbing the bag back, cradling it against her protectively. “How very dare you.” Peggy tried to look as stern as she could manage in that moment, but even she didn’t quite believe her performance. “I don’t think you need to steer clear of him though.” And with that she threw a Cheeto at his head.
“I’m very daring like that,” he smirked and picked up the Cheeto that she had thrown at him. Looking down at his Cheeto dust covered fingers, he got an idea in his head that was probably going to end with him getting punched. Thoughts of Jarvis forgotten, he sprung forward to wipe his hand on Peggy’s arm.
It was pure reflex to kick at him to try and keep him from getting too close with those messy hands. The Cheetos bag was flung into the air, scattering what little remained inside all over them and the blanket. Peggy has secured a bag of chips in her hand and used it as a weapon, hitting at Bucky’s hands to keep them away from her. Cheeto stains were a bitch to get out of clothing. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Or what? You’re going to keep smacking me around with junk food?” He asked with a snort, easily plucking her current weapon of choice away and holding it out of her reach. He wiggled his flesh and blood fingers at her once again. “I’m going to touch you~” He sing songed, inching closer.
Peggy did the only thing she could think of in that moment. She took hold of the cover and rolled herself up in it as best she could to avoid any and all contact with him. The ridiculousness of the situation had her laughing beneath the layers, face poking out slightly so she could see where he was at. She had needed this chance to simply sit back and have some fun. It was refreshing. “Just lick your fingers clean like a gentleman.”
“You’re the worst,” he complained, sounding completely fond somehow despite his words, defeated by the Burrito Formerly Known as Peggy Carter. And though he was complaining, a smile still tugged at his lips as he did as Peggy said, licking his fingers clean. They were being utterly ridiculous, but you know what? They clearly needed to act like idiot teenagers. The world would get too heavy otherwise.