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My arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer. I squeezed down as tight as I needed to be held, but he would never return it. I could feel the fear he held every time he touched me, scared that I'd break by his hand.

Took a moment for his arm to rest lightly around my lower back. As he curled around me, his head tucked under my chin.

"You're safe here, Bucky," I whispered against his hair.

I hoped that I'd relax him, but it had the opposite effect. The man froze up.

Again.

"Bucky?"

A little shake didn't jar a reaction from him. Nor did a hand wave in front of his face do anything.

"Okay. You've shut down again. How many times do I have to say that I'm not going to bite you when I'm lucid?"

With I sigh, I stood up and a flick of the wrist motioned to the dogs to open with the door.

"Alright, Beautiful, let's head back inside, shall we?"

No answer from Bucky.

But he gave no resistance when I nudged him onto his feet. Merely followed along while I moved him back inside Soteria.

"You broke him again?"

I flipped Eve the bird, guiding him to my room. He could sleep this off like last time.

"He woke up about ten minutes ago."

'Damnit.... I wanted to wrap him up in a blanket cocoon again,' I pouted, carefully maneuvering Bucky to sit on the couch.

"What did you do this time?"

"I really don't know why he's doing this all of a sudden."

My fingers found themselves wound around a fluffy blanket. My hands draped blanket after blanket. Wrapped him up in a heap of soft things.

Nothing I could do about how straight backed he sat though.

Playing with his hair hadn't brought him back from that blank state he seemed to be stuck in. All the knots were detangled by the time I gave up that tactic.

He didn't react to the dogs using him as a bed. Both of them piled on his lap, tails wagging away against his arms.

Shoving the dogs off him did nothing too. He didn't stop me at all.

"Cinnamon buns. Might as fucking well."

I doubt a hug would work. I doubt it very much so.

So that left me staring at a box filled with a whole bunch different kinds of cinnamon buns. Probably every kind collected from a nearby city.

'Oooo, this one's yummy.'

With that thought, I set one in the toaster oven.

"Eve, stop the toasting before it gets charred. He doesn't much like charred food."

"Fine.... About him training you...."

"Look, I get it. You want to get him to Gramps ASAP, and your children are precious. So I get it," I interrupted while rinsing off the oily sugar stuck to my fingers. "I just thought of it as another tool in my hat of tricks for when shit hits the fan? Definitely useful if I end up on my own. Looking back, I see more than a few situations where some combative skills would have been rather.... It would have prevented some shit?"

"What are you talking about?"

A scream ripped from my throat and I whirled around to find Bucky's face inches away from the toaster. His breath came out in quick little bursts, clearly sniffing at the bun beyond the glass.

"Hey there, Bu-Buddy? How are you feeling?" I asked gently.

"Funct – I'm... fine...?" he replied.

The struggle to tear his eyes away from the treat in the oven was so obvious as he turned to face me.

"...'Kay...?" With a shrug, I pushed the matter to the back of my mind. "...The bun's for you?"

Bucky was facing me, but his eyes? They were looking to the side in the direction of the toaster oven.

'Can he even see inside that thing? The angles completely suck for that. It's like parallel to his head. Oh my god! Does he have eyes on the side of his head?! I sure hope didn't jab my finger in one. That would hurt.... I'd know, wouldn't I? It's be mushy and wet.... What if they're super tiny – '

"Val?"

"Huh? What up?" I responded with a smile, to which he ended up looking like a sad puppy.

'What'd I do this time?'

"...You don't need to slap on a smile after everything she said," Bucky muttered.

"...I feel like I've missed something...."

"You stared blankly at him as if he grew a second head, and then proceeded to go deaf for a period of time."

"What the hell did you say to me?"

"I haven't said a thing since you interrupted me. Mr. Barnes asked if you were alright."

"...I'm fine?"

Bucky gave such a large sigh, his shoulders sagging. "...We'll figure out something else to improve your aim.... We can work on some hand-to-hand skills when you're healed."

"Yeah... but Eve wasn't kidding about being able to stop you. I can't do much if things keep hitting me. Like the doors and they're fucking heavy here. Definitely broke my fingers with them before. Not fun."

"...You mentioned a broken hand last time... was she the one...? To stop you from learning combative skills?"

"...No, that time was all me.... Pretty sure that was... me...?"

Bucky took one large step to me, his arm scooping me up in the same moment. A tink of metal against metal echoed slightly in the room and then a screech.

All in the time it took for me to react.

Which was to stare at the dislocated cabinet door held in his cybernetic hand.

"Let's see which of us is better built," he practically growled out, his chest rumbling under my fingertips.

'...Okay... okay... okay... okay... okay...? Okay....'

Some of the plates on his arm shifted, reminding me of how muscles flexed when a person was about to lash out. He had already made a new handle for door. His fingers had pierced right through the metal.

'I wonder if the glass can tank a shot like that.'

The ceiling sure couldn't. And from the way he's been glaring at it, he just might think Eve would be up there or something.

'Oh hey, that's where the popcorn bowl went,' I thought, staring at the hole due to the door Bucky tore off its hinges. A door that Eve was probably opening to whack my leg.

"I'm not looking to fight with you, Mr. Barnes."

He half folded my body until I was completely out of reach from any doors and awkwardly perched on his arm and shoulder.

"...But I do see your arguments in regards to Val's... combative skills. I'll stop with the antics, and even help out, if you can find it in yourself to shoot her when that temper of hers kicks in. Only then will I move the arsenal you've requested."

His arm tightened around me and the metal trapped between his fingers screeched again. A clattering made me flinch, the door having dropped onto the floor.

"I'm not going to shoot her," Bucky stated through gritted teeth, his feet pacing back and forth along the kitchen island.

"...She means with a sleep dart," I added at his horrified expression. "You're going to have to actually shoot me with one to prove it to her."

I couldn't help the smile at his nose wrinkling like when he ate something he disliked.

"I'm not going to shoot you. With anything," he insisted, pacing with me still sitting on his arm.

"I can't give a damn if you did. I've been shot by sleeping darts a bunch. Amber made the concoction to knock me out whenever I got too rowdy and bugged her too much.... Or when she wanted to sleep and I wanted to break out of the dorms.... Just make sure I don't land on my face. Mother would kill me if I end up with a crooked nose."

Though it was more along the lines of the tech used to heal a broken nose oh so fucking perfectly was far too annoying to deal with for six weeks.

Those beautiful blue eyes narrowed in a way that was questioning something. Didn't feel like confusion about how not to get me to land on my face. There was too much irritation in the way his eyes narrowed.

"I'm not going to shoot you," Bucky repeated.

With a sigh, I dropped the topic.

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Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this part, please consider leaving a vote. They're very much appreciated. ^^

And a big thank you to TinselA/Bunny Carrot (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7591081/) and the Anonymous Fifth Beta for Beta-ing this chapter.