bucky (jbuchananbarnes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-25 23:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, bucky barnes (winter soldier), sharon carter |
Who: Bucky Barnes and Sharon Carter
When: Backdated, Monday, August 22
Where: Sharon’s Their place
What: Moving in
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Viv was asleep in her bedroom, which meant that the had to do a majority of the carrying boxes and unpacking in as much silence as they could muster. Sharon was clearing space in her closet, pulling out old clothes she either didn’t need or didn’t fit into anymore. There was an open beer on her bureau (she’d already cleared out half the drawers for him there, too) and she was holding a maternity shirt in both hands, running her fingers over the fabric. Debating. Maybe she should put some of these things into storage? Was she going to need them again sometime soon, or should she get rid of them?
~*~
Bucky paused outside the bedroom with a duffle filled with his everyday clothes. He took in Sharon holding a shirt which looked far too large for her, his brows knitting together as he tried to decide if he should just drop his bag and leave or say something. They were going to be really living together. There shouldn't be hesitation between them when it came to open, honest communication which was why he said anything at all.
"Trying to decide if you'll really need the shirt you're holding enough to keep it in the dresser or trying to figure out why you're making space in your dresser at all?"
He was only half-joking though his tone wasn't serious at all.
~*~
Sharon actually jumped a little at the sound of his voice. She hadn’t heard him in the hall, which was very confusing. Normally she was hyper sensitive to noises, to people in her home. But now it was their home. Maybe that made all the difference.
Turning around to face him, she put on a smile. It was warm and genuine. She was pretty much always happy to see him, and now he’d be there every day. She’d get to fall asleep next to him and wake up in his arms. Every day. This was the first time she’d ever cohabitated with anyone she was dating, and it was both exciting and a little terrifying.
“Mentally calculating the number of years before I’ll need some of these clothes again. Will storage fees and hassle add up to simply buying a new wardrobe when the time comes?”
~*~
Clothes weren't something Bucky had ever spent a lot of time thinking about before he was injured. These days he bought things based on how easy they were to put on and take off with one arm. He didn't understand what Sharon meant at first. All he could think was it was clearly too big for her and what woman on the planet planned ahead to get heavier?
He flushed a little as he realized she meant when she got pregnant again.
"Sorry, I had a blond moment. I think you should hang onto anything you wouldn't mind wearing again. If you hated it the first time? I'm pretty sure you won't like it the second and I know it's hard for me to find things I like in the first place. I have a tendency to hang onto my clothes until they're falling apart."
His lack of luggage was testament enough to the truth of his statement. Bucky literally only had what fit into the guest bedroom at Steve's place. All the 'things' in his life had become nothing more than that: things. Clutter wasn't something he had room for physically when he was mentally a hoarder already. It'd only taken one trip to get everything he had to Sharon's---their place. He hoped he got used to calling it 'their place' sooner rather than later.
~*~
Sharon was an undercover agent. She lived out of a suitcase, only keeping the barest minimum of personal belongings. She had to be able to get up and leave at the drop of a hat. Her book collection was the only thing that she kept outside of clothes and a laptop.
Unfortunately, with the baby came the stuff. She had clothes, and blankets, and toys, and furniture, and all the things that were supposed to make her life easier with Viv around. It was going to be a lot to sort through before the move, especially considering she hadn’t sorted much of anything in Viv’s first year of life. She hadn’t taken much to the Goodwill.
She folded the shirt and tossed it onto a pile on her bed. “It’s no big deal.” She dusted her hands off on her jeans, and turned her full attention to Bucky. “Can I help you unpack? I made room in the closet. And emptied three drawers. You should have space for all your things.”
~*~
"I've got enough clothes to not have to do laundry for a month. That's what's in this suitcase."
Bucky grinned at Sharon as he gestured to it. He picked it up with his good arm to move it over to the bed. There was enough clear space for him to lay his luggage down; the zipper wasn't locked since he hadn't felt the need to be that paranoid merely moving in with the woman he loved. It was easy to unzip it, toss the lid back, and reveal the neatly rolled clothes inside. They were packed with a military precision which Bucky knew said more about him than anything he wore ever could.
Shrugging slightly, he admitted, "I'm a pretty uncomplicated guy. One drawer for undershirts, boxers, and socks. One drawer should hold my exercise clothes. The other can handle my shirts. I tend to hang my pants, but they roll just fine for stow-and-go as you can see."
He wanted to tell her he wasn't weird. It wasn't true though. Bucky still wasn't whole, healed, healthy. The war was still alive inside him. There was the possibility it always would be. Sharon was taking a chance letting him into her life. The least he could do was let her see him as he came and hope she could accept what he offered: the bad with the good and all the things which fell into the grey space in between.
~*~
Sharon grabbed a handful of hangers from the closet. They were identical and matched all the other ones in there with her clothes on them. She could help him hang his pants. Hopefully they could hang out the wrinkles.
Moving over to his suitcase, she could see how neatly everything was rolled and organized. It felt like how Sharon would probably pack if she had to fit everything she owned into a suitcase. But her shoe collection would take up several.
“You don’t need to stow-and-go anything anymore,” she offered, reaching out to help pull things from the suitcase. “We can hang your shirts, too. Less ironing that way.” Sharon hated ironing. It felt like such a waste of time. But it had to be done; she had to look presentable at work.
She worked in silence for a moment, hanging pants and shirts and putting them in the closet. Then she picked up a t-shirt and brought it to her face to press her nose into the fabric and breathe in his scent. So what if he was standing right there? He smelled good to her.
~*~
Silence fell between them as comfortable as a warm blanket on a cold afternoon. Bucky worked with Sharon to empty his lone bag of its contents. He'd put his toiletries into the bathroom earlier. Sharon had made a space for his razor, comb, and toothbrush already. It was the closest he'd ever gotten to feeling as if he were unpacking from a long trip away from home rather than moving into a new space he'd occupy for an unknown length of time prior to being deployed out somewhere else.
"You know I don't really have a lot which needs ironing. I'm glad to take up some space in your closet all the same."
He smiled at her holding his shirt to her face. It was clean. Bucky had gone to the trouble to ensure all his clothes were washed prior to packing them up. No sense in coming to Sharon with work to hand when a washer and dryer was readily available to him. It'd taken him a while to learn how to do his own laundry. Bucky remembered the lost items with their stains or holes from too much bleach with a fondness which was unusual for him.
He'd grown up quite a bit, hadn't he?
"I take it you approve of my laundry detergent?"
Bucky thought he understood her actions better than that, but it felt good to tease a little.
~*~
That was one of the reasons Sharon knew she and Bucky were for real. They were so comfortable around one another, so secure. There was no need to talk, no need to fill the silence with mindless words just to have something to listen to. Sharon didn't feel the need to perform for him, or entertain him. They could just be.
She chuckled softly. "I was going to make a joke about how I like you in the closet, but..." Sharon stepped over, wrapping her fingers around the crook of his good elbow. She leaned in to tap a kiss against his lips. "That would just be silly."
The shirt smelled like him. Maybe it was his detergent, or some lingering aftershave, or some combination thereof? Whatever it was, Sharon liked it. Loved it, really. "I hope you don't start smelling like me if I run our laundry together.”
~*~
Bucky stole another kiss as he held Sharon closer to him to bury his face into her hair, deliberately breathing in her scent as he smiled at the good fortune life was finally offering up to him. They could really do this. They were really doing this. He wasn't some charity case to Sharon; Sharon wasn't some Friday Night Special girl to him. They were going to have a life together as a family.
"I love the way you smell, too, so if that happens? Don't worry about it. I won't protest. Besides. I'll still have my side of the bed and you'll have yours so if you ever miss just the smell of me? You can sleep on my pillow for the night while I sleep on yours."
He'd done that with his sisters when they'd been small and afraid of storms or gunshots they heard in the dark. Brooklyn hadn't been the best place to grow up poor with no noticeable ethnicity to cling to for protection. Bucky had gotten good at blending in with all of them from the Irish to the Italians to the Jews. It hadn't mattered to him as long as it kept his sisters safe and some nights he had to work the docks which meant those girls at home?
All they'd had to make them feel safe was a pillow he'd slept on while they were at school which still smelled like the brother they trusted to protect them from all the threats of living in the projects.
"We're going to make this work, you know? I can feel it."
Bucky hoped his certainty was enough to where Sharon could feel it, too.
~*~
The idea of trading pillows to breathe the other in was absolutely adorable. And heart-warming. Sharon’s arms tightened around him and she pressed her nose into his neck. “You’ve got a deal.”
They were absolutely going to make this work. Sharon felt it, too. She didn’t say as much, though. He could feel it in her body against his how much she agreed with him. The warmth spreading between them and around them was more than just two people sharing body heat. It was love. Family. Home.