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"I'm going to take a gander here, but did you forget about toasting a certain treat for a particular spaced out sergeant?"

"...."

Without a word of acknowledgement, I quietly washed my hands and tossed a couple of cinnamon buns into the toaster.

"You should eat something yourself, Val."

"...Yeah... I guess I should...."

Too lazy to do much else let alone move, I plucked a pair of PROs from the fridge and then stood in front of Bucky.

Should I sit to his left or right?

'What the hell did those assholes do to you?'

On his left, he might feel safer with having his cybernetic between us, but he had never actually put it between us. Barely even let me touch it.

On his right, my usual spot. That was if Zeph wasn't hogging the hell out of it.

"Sit to his right. Last thing you need is to take another hit from that arm of his."

"...Yeah, 'kay."

That made sense.

I made sure to keep some distance between us, not to invade his personal space or crowd him.

'Well, this certainly wasn't how I imagined my day would go....'

My thumb broke through the thin red peel. I tried to keep the skin in one piece. This time, instead of a winding spiral, I tried something akin to a world map. Sliced my nail down the side and wiggled my thumb between flesh and skin. The peel tore and broke wherever it was strained too much.

'Aww, no....'

At the fallen third of the peel, I gave up my attempt. Impatience got the better of me and I finagled a purple coloured slice free.

I opened my mouth to take a sweet delicious bite only to scream.

My hand bashed against a stubbled chin, knocking a head into my nose.

"Bucky!?! Achoo! Oh god. Sorry! Achoo! You're uhh..." I half babbled through my sneezes, awkwardly patting his chin that I half punched. "How...? Um, how are you...?"

Bucky just hummed. While he chewed the PRO slice he bit out of my fingers, a ghost of a smile played on his lips.

Not spotting any discomfort or fear in him, I shrugged off the incident and freed another slice to eat.

Only to have Bucky's head get in the way again. This slice ended up in his mouth too. As well as the next one, and the one after that. No matter how fast I moved my hand, I could not managed to get a slice into my own damn mouth.

With four slices in his mouth, he looked so much like a chipmunk. Cheeks puffed out. Absolutely adorable. The temptation to poke at his cheeks grew by the second. Pretty sure that would end up with juice splattered all over the place.

Bucky plucked the rest of the PRO out of my hands.

"...Okay?"

With a shrug, I grabbed the other PRO.

Before I could get my thumb under the skin, he took that as well. Set it on the other side of him. Out of my reach.

"...."

'At least he didn't shove the whole thing into his mouth.'

So I took the next logical step. Get another pair from the fridge.

This time, his blanket hidden elbow moved to block my leg from straightening out. Effectively dropping me back onto my ass.

"...Bucky?" I called out, watching his fingers methodically pull the last two slices from the peel.

"Stay," was all he said with his mouth still mostly full.

With no reason not to, I quietly sat next to him, watching him separate the two last slices.

Then nothing.

We just sat there staring at two slices of unnatural fruit. For who knows how long. And then Bucky raised a piece to my mouth.

"You don't have –"

His fingers wiggled the slice.

With a deep breath in and a shrug, I opened my mouth, and he fed me the fruit.

'This... this is kind of weird....'

"Thanks...?"

He handed me the last slice before starting on the second PRO, methodically peeling it. The peel came off in one piece. One long, pretty spiral.

The first slice, he popped into his mouth, chewing quickly while he separated the rest.

I couldn't help but lean into his side. His side covered by many layers of fluffy blankets. But somehow that high body temperature of his managed to make it through all those layers. My head dropped against his shoulder as I munched on the one PRO slice he gave me.

His head tipped, resting against my mine.

Once everything was all separated, he handed me the five slices left of the second PRO.

"You cleaned everything...."

"Eh," I shrugged.

"You should have left it to me."

"Ehhhh."

"Cleaning... it helps calm me. It feels... familiar."

"...Next time then. 'Cause I have no idea what I was doing."

"...Are Ixie and Zephyr alright?" he asked.

"They're still melting out of the snow. As for your cinnamon buns, they're going to char in 5, 4, 3 –"

Bucky smoothly leapt over the poorly cleaned counter and opened the toaster door in what looked to be one motion.

'I could watch him move all day.'

Didn't even matter that he was under a massive pile of blankets. Still fun to watch.

He didn't care for the tongs much. Used his cybernetic to pick up the cinnamon buns. He paused by the fridge and grabbed something from inside before returning to the one cushion left on the couch.

He wiggled into the little distance between us, removing the blankets from his right. He didn't lean into me, but our sides were pressed together.

Taking the hint, I sunk against him and rested my head on his shoulder. "How are you holding up? Anything else I can do?"

"...This... this is good..." he replied after wolfing down a bun in about five bites. "...I... I didn't mean to wake you.... I did my best to be quiet. I didn't know where else to go."

"Bucky, you're welcome to wake me whenever you feel like. No reason needed."

"I shouldn't.... You haven't been getting enough sleep."

"Doesn't matter. If you don't want to be alone, I'll be here," I assured as he ate the second cinnamon bun. "Next to you. In whatever situation."

Bucky didn't say anything in response. Only tilted his head until it rested on mine.

And then out of nowhere, he was peeling another PRO. Probably what he picked up when he opened the fridge. Another perfect spiral of peel later, he was munching on the first slice before separating the rest and handing them to me after a minute or so.

"Thanks.... Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

Bucky shook his head, his arm wrapping around me.

"Okay...." I reached up with my left hand,soothing my fingers over his cheek. Orat least that's what I was hoping me playing with his stubble came off as.Scratching it was oddly fun.

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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.