[AU] What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare

[from_the_outside]

Things are... Sharon doesn't want to say better, but she thinks they're better. She'd had a long chat with Steve about the way Bucky was feeling, how he needed something to do with himself, some way to be helpful, and Steve had listened carefully, absorbing every word.

She suspects they'd talked some after that, too. 

Staying with him and Steve hasn't proved to be quite as awkward as she'd feared, but today she'd needed some space, and since Bucky was with Vision, she'd gone to do her work in the old apartment rather than Steve's small office. She's still mulling over her chat with Ross when she walks into the library, looking for Bucky, and finds only Vision.

A few minutes later, after Vision has explained their experiment, she heads through the corridors to the garage. "Bucky?"

It takes her a second to spot him, and when she does, she can't help the smile that plays across her lips. She looks up at where he's hanging from a beam, new phone in hand, his hair sticking straight up – or straight down, more accurately. "Baby, what are you up to?"

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[nerves_of_ice]

He waves his left hand at the tiny drone camera floating nearby. "All clear, Vision - Sharon's here. You're off duty." The drone swivels to focus on Sharon, then bobs once in the air as if nodding and speeds off toward the exit from the garage.

Bucky looks down at her. "Trying to take a picture."

[from_the_outside]

"So I see."

She watches the little drone speed off and shakes her head. "That doesn't bug you? Having a camera around?"

He'd been so against them tracking Tony... but maybe it's just easier than being around another person all the time.

[nerves_of_ice]

"We're trying to figure out what works best," he tells her. "If it's an option, it might help people to change it up sometimes rather than always having me shadowing them."

He looks untroubled by the fact that he's hanging upside down and twisting to look at her.

[from_the_outside]

"I'm getting dizzy just looking at you," she says, grinning.

"What kind of photo requires you to hang from the ceiling like a bat?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Bat's-eye view," he drawls, but as he does Bucky reaches up with his left hand to take hold of the beam. He swings his feet down, using his left arm to support his full weight, then drops lightly to the ground in front of her.

He swipes something on the screen and offers her the phone. The image he's called up is an artistically angled shot of Steve's vintage motorcycle, one that shows both shadows and light illuminating it in a way that can't be seen from the ground.

[from_the_outside]

She accepts the phone and takes a look at the photo, her smile crooking as she does.

"It's definitely a unique perspective," she says, studying the play of light and shadow across the bike she'd gotten to know so well in D.C.

"This is a rally nice photo, baby."

[nerves_of_ice]

He shrugs, just a little. "I'm used to looking at things from weird angles and lines of sight."

Bucky cranes his neck a little to look down at the screen. "Think so?"

[from_the_outside]

"Definitely."

She glances that crooked smile back up at him. "And I took a lot of art history classes, so you should know my opinion is academically sound."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'll take your word for it, then."

He frowns at the phone for a second, then looks back up at her. "It does okay, I guess."

[from_the_outside]

"Not satisfied?"

She offers the phone back, smiling more. "I didn't mean to interrupt. You can get back to it, if you like."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You're not interrupting." He takes the phone back and holds it loosely in his hand. "How was your day?"

[from_the_outside]

"Fine, so far."

She slips the fingers of one hand into his front pocket and tugs gently. "Better now."

[nerves_of_ice]

A small, warm smile curves his lips as he lets himself be drawn forward towards her. Bucky scans the garage around them, making sure there are no cameras pointed in their direction and no one else is around, then leans down to kiss her.

[from_the_outside]

She makes a small contented sound when his mouth meets hers and kisses him back, then smiles at him once more.

"The day's looking up and up," she says, and gives him a last tug before letting go. "So, remember how you wanted me to let you help with things? I've maybe got something for you, if you're willing."

[nerves_of_ice]

"What's that?" He flips the switch to lock the phone and shoves it in his back pocket.

[from_the_outside]

"I was just on the phone with Ross," she says. "He was asking about Rumlow, what I knew about him, what else he might have been up to."

She slips her hands into her own back pockets and shakes her hair back, looking up at him. "I told him what I could; and he's already talked to Steve. But he was involved in everything that happened in DC. Would you be willing to talk to Ross about him? Or to me, and I can relay it."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I can talk to him. Both of you. It's fine." He'd made it clear before he was willing to help; he's going to live up to it, no matter what.

His gaze is dark, but steady as he looks down at her, and he's calm, without any sign of tension. "Now?"

[from_the_outside]

"No. Ross is swamped today. Tomorrow, maybe."

She takes one hand from one pocket and reaches for his fingers. "Thanks, baby."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You're welcome," he murmurs. "You don't need to thank me for that, though, you know."

As he says it, Bucky laces his fingers together with hers.

[from_the_outside]

"I don't say it 'cause I need to."

His fingers are warm and strong and she loves the way it feels when they twine with hers. She swings his hand a little and says: "So what else are you up to? Want an assistant?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He shrugs. "Not much. Taking pictures of things."

Bucky glances down at their hands as Sharon swings them back and forth, and smiles a little at the sight.

"We can do something else if you want."

[from_the_outside]

She shakes her head. "What were you going to take pictures of next?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He appreciates the way she's phrased it, although he doesn't point that out.

"I thought I would look at some of the other cars and things here. Then the tunnels."

[from_the_outside]

"Tunnels?"

There are tunnels? No, wait, of course there are tunnels. Of course this place has a below-ground structure that's probably just as insane as what she can see. "Mind if I tag along?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh-huh. They don't look like they're used anymore." Come to think of it, he's not sure if anyone else knows about them. "I found an old door, a while back."

The corner of his mouth quirks up in a small, wry smile. "Wanna see?"