voidtreckerexpress | (no subject)

Who: Duo and Bucky
Where: Quiet Carriage
When: Grasshopper, Day 12 (the return to the train after the mission)
What: Bucky's attempt to bring Duo down.
Warnings: No idea yet, honestly!

Somehow Duo managed to get back to the train in one piece and even managed to get to into a shower before everyone started swarming. He could easily have stayed in the shower for an hour or more, but he knew that people would be needing them way more than him. He stayed in long enough to get the worst of the grime off of him and out of his hair (though knew he'd need to wash it again later that day), careful of the tender lump on the side of his head, and changed his clothes.

Once he was done, he headed quickly to his cabin... and paused. With a sigh he slipped in, grabbed some things, and headed out and to one of the quiet rooms.

He slipped into an empty one and sat himself on the table, legs crossed, and slowly started to brush out his hair as he considered his options.

How long had he gone without sleep now? Too long... Alice had knocked him out to stop him doing something stupid. She's actually knocked him the hell out. If that didn't tell him something was wrong he didn't know what did. But he also knew he just couldn't do it. It had been so long now that the idea of settling down and closing his eyes filled him with a fear that had no basis in reality. Duo barely remembered why he was so afraid. Surely by now it would be okay?

And yet, there he was, dark, dark circles under his eyes, pale and draw and lacking the energy to even drag his brush through his damp hair.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Duo was, at his core, a very tactile person. Deep inside he craved touch, human contact, warmth... any kind of affection. He was starved for it. Had only experienced it once in his life only to have it snatched away just as he was getting used to it. Maybe that's why he was so afraid of getting close to people? At least people like Bucky.

Alice was safe. Alice didn't want affection and didn't give it. Being friends with her was great, there were no expectations. It was the same with Najaran and Kitty. But people who touched, who liked to hug, who offered warmth... They're the ones who would hurt him the most, and he knew it.

And yet... he fell asleep. Knowing that Bucky could hurt him more than he could ever hurt Bucky be damned. He allowed himself to be lulled into sleep, fell into that darkness... and didn't dream. For all the fear that he would suffer nightmares the moment he closed his eyes, Duo didn't actually dream. Nor did he wake. At least not until he felt a body at his back. It was touch that had his eyes snapping open. But rather than triggering the fight response he had been afraid of, Duo immediately rolled away and off of the table, blindly reaching for a weapon that just wasn't there... not even fully awake yet to realise that there wasn't actually a thread to shoot even if he did have one.

Bucky isn't in an entirely different boat, but he's more willing to trust than Duo is. He was born into a world of touch and love and warmth before Hydra had gotten their hands on him, and though he'd spent years with his only physical contact involving pain, he knew in his bones that there was safety and comfort in touch. So he's trying to reclaim that touchy-feely part of himself, and it was a whole lot easier than he's willing to admit.

He's under no illusions that Duo feels safe with him -- he knows that's not something easily earned from guys like them, so he sleeps lightly enough that when Duo moves, his eyes blink open and his shoulders tense, ready for an attack that never comes. After a few seconds, he blinks a couple more times. "Sorry," he murmurs, realizing what must've happened. "I guess I'm too used to napping with Inigo, and he'll wrap around you the second you're out," he chuckles.

Duo stared blindly up at the man on the table from his position on the floor near the door. He heard the words but didn't follow them. He couldn't understand what was being said. But it was the laughter, low as it was, that tickled something of his senses and Duo blinked. Finally he seemed to wake up and realise what he was doing and who he was looking at... and his cheeks warmed.

"I... I'm sorry." He gasped out, thoroughly embarrassed with himself.

The smile Bucky offers him is a warm one, and he gives his head a shake. "No need to apologize," he replies softly. "Everybody on this train is screwed up in their own special way. You okay now?" he offers his flesh hand, to help Duo back to his feet. "For example, I won't use the ICPs if video is activated. I'll barely even touch the stupid vending machines."

Still looking embarrassed with himself, Duo reaches up and takes the hand, letting Bucky pull him to his feet.

"... Why the hell're you being so nice, man? I'm a basket case." Alright, maybe on a good day he could probably pass as normal. He knew he should probably cut himself a break, sleep deprivation was a hell of a thing, but Duo wasn't really ready to do that.

Bucky shrugs and flashes a grin. "I did the whole cold, ruthless assassin thing for a few decades and decided it wasn't for me," just as soon as he'd had the free will to do so. "I've decided to become a flower child and sing kumbaya in a field of wild grasses rolling in the wind. Until we come across a place like that, I guess I'll just settle for being nice."

Duo just stared... and then he started laughing... a little too hard. He quickly shut it off. He knew where that would lead if he wasn't careful and as nice as Bucky was, the last thing he needed was Duo clinging to him and sobbing like some idiot child.

"... Right... right." Okay, weird image if a hippy Bucky aside, Duo was still exhausted. And now just too damn exhausted to be embarrassed. So, he climbed back up onto the table and just stretched out. "... Gramps is a hippy. Who knew?"

Bucky lowers himself to the table again, offering his arm as a pillow and this time lying on his back instead of his side, so he'd be less likely to try to curl around the poor kid again. "Well, I'd be a drunk hobo but I can't get drunk, and that's just one step away from a hippy, so..." he shrugs his shoulders, the metal one clanking quietly against the table beneath him.

Duo snorted and easily dropped his head onto Bucky's arm.

"Can't get drunk? Damn, that must suck..." He felt for the guy. Not that he'd often get drunk himself. He could count on one hand the amount of time's he'd been that way.

Duo was still for a moment... And then with deliberate, conscious movements, he shimmied himself back a bit, until his back was flush to Bucky's side. Honestly, he didn't mind how close the guy was. It had just surprised him when he'd been asleep, not being prepared and all that. Now he knew. And he guess it was something of a peace offering. To show that maybe he wasn't a lost cause after all?

"Well, it at least kept me from crawling into a bottle and letting myself die there, so there's that." He probably would have, if he'd been able. His first weeks of freedom had been rough, to say the least, and his life skills had been almost nonexistent.

He smiles, just a little, when Duo snuggles up against him. "Sleep tight," he says warmly, closing his eyes to do the same.

"Amen to that..." Duo could understand that temptation, and he didn't have nearly as many years under his belt as Bucky did. But he was glad neither of them had succumbed to that.

He closed his own eyes and nodded, his cheek rubbing along Bucky's arm when he did.

"Uh-huh... G'night..." Duo yawned and settled himself down. And was asleep in moments.

Bucky smiles warmly at that little cheek rub, but he knows better than to say anything about it. Instead, he lets himself drift off and this time, he stays put.