[oom] I'm right here beside you

[from_the_outside]

 Sleep is a joke.

It's not just the intel that she stays up sifting through, blue light straining her eyes; it's not just the coffee she drinks, trying to keep her brain sharp and her thoughts on track. 

It's time.

Minutes that slip away, that she can't get back. Hours that tick ponderously past. She lies alone in her bed and can't close her eyes because if she does, if she sleeps, it's another night gone, another night closer to the day Bucky goes back under and –

So she stays up and works. 

It means that when she waits for him in the morning to come find her before they meet with T'Challa and the others, her skin is pale and translucent and she has that sick feeling of an all-nighter, fatigue poisons running rampant through her bloodstream – but she has a list of observations from her analysis, and two mugs of coffee kept warm on the credenza: one pale with milk and sugar, the other black and as strong as her little coffee maker could handle.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

She watches in silence as the tension grows and the block begins to edge its way out of the stack, and times it just right before –

"Careful!" she says, sudden and sharp, the way a particularly annoying golfing buddy might cough on someone's backswing.

[nerves_of_ice]

Instead of jerking at the sudden sound, everything about him becomes unnaturally still in an instant, including his hand in the air, a mere centimeter's width from the block. After a few frozen seconds, he cuts a sharp look her way, without otherwise moving.

"Really?" Absolutely dry.

[from_the_outside]

She does nothing but laugh to herself, shoulders shaking, like she's the funniest person alive.

Cheating is a time-honored board game tradition, after all.

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head, finishes easing that piece out and manages to stack it on top, then gives her a very amused look.

"Your turn."

[from_the_outside]

She gives him a wary glance, then leans forward to start gently edging out one of the side blocks in the middle of the stack.

[nerves_of_ice]

He doesn't say a single word. In fact, he's careful to stay perfectly quiet, and very still, except for leaning forward himself to watch as she manipulates the little block.

Only once it's two-thirds of the way out does he blow a warm breath over the side of her neck.

[from_the_outside]

She shivers but her hand remains steady, though it takes her a moment to focus enough to tap the block the rest of the way out. The tower sways, but doesn't fall, and she turns to him with laughing eyes.

"Now you're getting it."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm a quick study," he says, visibly amused. Bucky eyes the tower, which is still swaying, and sighs.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he mutters, and picks his target.

[from_the_outside]

She waits until he's nudged the block about halfway out and the tower is swaying precariously but not yet about to collapse before she makes her attack; leaning over, she brushes the hair off the back of his neck and presses her mouth to the nape.

[nerves_of_ice]

He manages to pull his hand back before the shiver runs through him, barely.

Leaning back from the tower, he turns and threads his fingers through her hair, drawing her into a kiss.

[from_the_outside]

Her laugh gets muffled into his mouth and she kisses him back with a will, lightly running her fingers over the spot she'd just attacked and doing her best not to nudge the table with her knee as she shifts in her seat.

[nerves_of_ice]

He tips his forehead against hers when the kiss breaks.

"You're a menace," he tells her, amused. "And a competitive one."

[from_the_outside]

"You've known that about me from the beginning," she says, smiling.

"And yet you like me anyway."

[nerves_of_ice]

"All true," he admits, and kisses her again before turning back to the tower. He blows out his breath, and reaches for the half-shifted block.

[from_the_outside]

She sits back and this time doesn't make a sound or try in any way to distract him.

If he gets this one, honestly, he deserves the win.

[nerves_of_ice]

Slowly, slowly, he edges the block free, then flips it over in his fingers.

Bucky has just enough time to grin in delight before the tower begins to sway a lot more than before. As his look turns to dismay, it collapses with a loud crash, scattering wooden blocks everywhere.

"Hell," he says, and starts laughing.

[from_the_outside]

Her mouth goes from an 'O' of dismay to triumph as the tower sways drunkenly and finally collapses, showering blocks on the table and floor as she laughs.

Before he can rise to pick the fallen blocks up, she's shifted over to perch in his lap, her arms around his neck, eyes bright and smile victorious.

"I win," she declares, and kisses him soundly.

[nerves_of_ice]

"You win," he agrees, and kisses her back, his arm going around her waist to support her.

"But look out next time," he teases, when the kiss breaks. "I'll get better at this."

[from_the_outside]

"It was pretty good for your first attempt," she says, grinning, and kisses him again.

"I'll be in trouble next time for sure."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You are trouble," he teases, reaching up to tug on a lock of her hair.

"But just you wait."

[from_the_outside]

"Big words," she teases back, letting her head tip in the direction of his tug.

"I'm hearing a lot of talk and not seeing much action."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh-huh." He threads his hand through her hair and leans in to kiss the side of her neck, just behind her jaw.

[from_the_outside]

She makes a sound low in her throat and shivers against him, tipping her head further to give him better access, more room.

"Interesting strategy," she says, trying for light even as her breath catches. "Very...hands on."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Hand, anyway," he amends, and trails slow kisses along the line of her jaw before he leans back in his chair and smiles at her.

[from_the_outside]

The candlelight might be fake but it flickers over his skin and hair and lights his eyes just like the real thing, and she looks at him for a long moment, just drinking him in, before she leans in and kisses him again, one hand cradling the side of his face.

"Okay," she breathes, when this kiss breaks. "It's pretty effective."