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

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.