#sam willson

Bucky Barnes was used to the murmurs and uncomfortable glares he got from the congress members, the government never fully trusted him despite allowing him to run as a congress member. It wasn't until he was actually voted into office that he was aware why, they were using him. Holding his pardon from his crimes as the winter soldier over his head, despite the fact that Steve had already fought for his charges to have been dropped completely because he wasn’t aware of what he was doing at all. Sam never agreed with the way that the government was carrying it out but with the current president being in jail and he being at the root of the problem the both of them just had to fall in line for a little bit so they didn’t end up in the same cell as him. It was uncomfortable and irritating, the reminder of his nightmares being held over his head everyday and brought up at every mistake or small hint of aggression.

He needed a break, a vacation, just a minute of time to himself so that he would be able to breathe and Sam’s Sister offered him something light. He always had a soft spot for her, he was a nice younger woman, never looked at him weirdly or brought up his past and gave a small smile every time she saw him despite being so stern with her own kids. An uncle of hers and Sam’s needed a new security detail for his niece, a very simple task, she couldn’t have been a day over thirteen and the most supervision that was needed was to ensure that she didn’t eat ice cream for dinner. Besides, it was in a different country, and he would have to stay in the estate which was pretty huge, so it seemed like a win-win, however Bucky didn’t like kids. He didn’t trust himself around them, despite being sure that he wasn’t under Hydra’s control anymore, kids just weren’t his forte. However he still agreed, it was a simple protection case, a few months of protecting a child shouldn’t be so hard right? And it was a friend of his, he couldn’t have just said no, had it been anyone else he might have but this was Sam.

“Now I’m going to be gone for a little bit. A new case came up, it will be a few months. Can you handle yourself?” Your uncle wasn’t an idiot, you were young but he taught you how to handle yourself at least a little bit. His line of work was dangerous and the people he worked for and against could snap at any moment so he wanted to make sure that you could at least put up a fight and leave a trace if anything were to happen to you. “I’ll be fine. You hired me a babysitter with a metal arm. I don't know how anything could go wrong.” You responded, thick sarcasm running through the sentence as you looked up from your bowl of ice cream, spoon now digging aimlessly into the dessert. Bucky stood in the background, hovering like a creep, his hair long and stubble grown out enough to where he should be late forties, however his body barely looked late thirties. With a kiss to the crown of your head, he gave Bucky the rundown. You weren't really allowed to use technology, safety reasons and what not so that you couldn’t be tracked. However, occasionally there would be a few hours where you would be allowed to use the tablet or computer but mainly that was it.

The first night after your uncle left was awkward, he stood in the corner of the rather huge dining room while you ate. Every now and then you would glance up from the computer in front of you, absentmindedly playing a random show you had turned on, wasn’t necessarily interesting but it was good background noise and was enough to keep you entertained until you had to sleep. “Are you just gonna stand there the whole time? In silence? Like some shadow or something?” A noodle from your meal hanging from the fork that lay just before your mouth, Bucky glanced over but didn’t answer. You got through a few more bites before speaking up again. “What’s your name, shadow?” “Six.” He answered shortly, now taking a few steps towards the table but still just standing before you. He wasn’t sure why he chose that name, it’s not like he was in danger if he told you his real name and yet he just came out. (What an odd name) You looked at him weirdly before going back to your meal, what could someone even say to that? His eyes glanced down at the watch on his wrist before looking back up at you, his facial features were always hardened, he never truly looked relaxed or calm. It didn’t freak you out, it was just a little freaky. “You should start to get ready for bed. It’s almost eleven.” How irritating, was he going to be like this the entire time?

All you were going to do was lay down, not even go to bed. With a sigh you looked back up at him, finishing up your meal and swallowing before asking your question. “Can I play a record before I go to sleep?” He looked at you and for once it finally looked like he had relaxed. “Go on T don’t make it long.” Your head turned at the nickname, he knew your name so there was no reason for him to call you “T”. “T?” “Where did that come from?” He chuckled, for once in the twenty four hours you had met him, he smiled and laughed , you were sure you were never seeing that again. “It’s short for Three. It took you only three hours to annoy me.” Your face turned at the reasoning, your nickname, his tone was obviously sarcastic however you still rolled your eyes in response to it. “I think you just really like numbers as names, Six.” He made a small “mhm” noise while his eyes nodded towards your room, with another eye roll you got up, heading to your room to pull a vinyl out of its sleeve and place the record onto your player as you turned it up to medium volume. A minute into the song, Bucky knocked on your door, telling you to turn it down. This guy sucks.

A month later he finds you laying upon his jacket, while outside, lounging in a chair by the pool. “Excuse me” He states moments later before turning back around. “Looking for your jacket? Looks like I sat on it.” A mischievous grin playing on your face as you stared him down. His eyes immediately find it beneath you and he groans, hand twitching behind him to just pick you up and grab it and then he notices the phone in your hand, something you weren’t allowed to have. “Is that a secure phone?” You feign ignorance, staring at the screen a moment before turning to show him, making it aware that you weren't paying attention. “Just got the high score. I had a lot of time to practice after the operation.” You had an operation on your heart a few months ago, just something to ensure that you were ok and that the medicine you were taking was still working and wasn’t killing you. “They made me stay in bed.” You spoke with a hint of annoyance, there was never really anything to do after operations. Bucky stayed quiet which only irritated you, it was his nature but you at least wished that he would keep a conversation going. “How long did they make you stay in bed for?” You fake his tone and rather heavy American accent for the question before responding to yourself. “Quite a long time. Several weeks, actually.” “Oh, I hope you’re ok.” “Better now Six, thanks for asking.” Keeping the fake conversation going. “How’s your time been here? Enjoying the grounds?” “Oh, they’re lovely. I like to walk in circles and stare at my shoes.”

He ignored everything you said, still looking at his jacket. “Can I get my jacket?” Begrudgingly, you hand it over, not before mentioning his arm- not the metal one. The tattoo on his wrist, “Taking All The Stupid With You”. “Nice tattoo, where’d you get it? Prison?” “Yeah, actually.” A fake gasp escaped your mouth, hands covering your lips before you slumped back in your chair. “I’m shocked.” He began to walk away, this man truly was terrible at conversations, with a groan you once again realized you were going to be the only thing keeping this very small conversation going. “What’s it mean, the writing?” He shrugged. “Oh it’s, you know. A quip between guys.” “What guy?” At this point you had pulled off of the edge of the chair, this was the most you two had talked in the month he had been here. “Just a guy in my life, trying to keep our friendship together.” “Why?” “I don’t know, because he liked me?” “He liked you? Did he need friends?” You didn’t know much of anything about “Six” or “Bucky” so anything you could get out of him was good even if it was a weird conversation about him becoming friends with a guy and then getting his words tattooed. “Yes and no, we just clicked, we were good friends and worked well together. I think.” “Was he a good friend?” “Probably.” “Were you a good friend?” “Probably not.” “So why were you friends?” “You ask a lot of questions.” Your arms crossed as you smiled at him, he was still entertaining you and he was surprisingly good company. “You’re quite the conversationalist.” You threw back sarcastically, hoping he would catch it in your voice and very obvious expression. “I’m gonna get back to work.” And just like that he tried to leave again, did he hate you or something? You couldn’t figure out what was dragging him down to the point where he ignored you at any given moment except the ones where he was forced to be in your presence. “Hey.” You called out to him, hoping he would turn, and as the second surprise of the afternoon, he actually did. “Did you ever see your friend again?” He laughed, it was more like a hearty chuckle that was short lived but it was something. With his posture fixed once more he turned his back to you as he answered. “I’ll let you know.”

Four months after that, he had become more comfortable around you. Enough to actually make jokes with you and enough for you to call him by just “Six”, granted he was going to be called that regardless because you didn’t actually know his name. He was doing a routine check, flashing his light outside to see if anyone was there and checking the cameras. You were finishing getting ready for bed, pajamas on and teeth brushed, however as you reached for your vinyl your body felt heavy. Your limbs began to hurt and a pain in your chest was growing by the second, air became a luxury, as if it was flying out of your lungs every time you tried to breathe it in. Something was wrong. Using the wall as a crutch, you did your best to get out of your room, just barely making it to the hallway before you saw him. “Mr. Six-” voiced strained as you gasped for air that kept fleeting you. “Something’s wrong.” The last thing you were able to get out before your body hit the floor and your eyes started to close, Bucky ran over to you at a speed you were unaware he had, barely seconds after you had hit the floor he was holding you in his arms, cradling you into his chest. Bits and pieces were all you remember, him placing you in the car and the movement of the car being well past the speed limit of the area, you knew where you were headed– your uncle’s private hospital that he paid to be built close to the house in case something like this were to happen. The caretaker you had was great but she was only equipped for so many things and this was not one of them. Gasping for air as he carried you into the hospital, the chill of the area being combated by the pajamas you still wore, body shaking from both the chill and over exertion of trying to keep you alive. He’d given you a hoodie to help with the shaking but it was taken off a little while after by a doctor, your hand helplessly reaching out for it before passing out.

It was a terrifying two hours of silence but when you woke you were hooked up to pretty much every tube known to man while Bucky stood outside of your hospital window. He looked as stoic as whenever you had met him but the glint in his eye was different, he was truly worried about you. It was funny and also nice to see the “robot” with actual feelings, a nurse came in a moment later, stealing your attention from off of the window. You looked terrible, a heart monitor attached to what felt like every part of your body under the hospital gown, the chill from the materials not making the temperature any better. The thin blanket barely doing anything, your hands laying in your lamp after restlessly trying to pull the thin sheet over your body only to be left with more anguish than warmth. The nurse turned up your morphine dosage at the sign of your body still shaking and sick appearance, despite it being just a small tremor she wanted to be sure. “Can he come in with me? I’m. . . I’m scared.” The nurse sighed, pulling up the covers from your bed to layer them over your arms and went back to checking your vitals. “Not yet, I’m sorry sweetheart. However perhaps in the next thirty minutes he can be here. You’ll be home soon. I promise.” Afterwards, she left to discuss what was going on with Bucky. “Tell him there was a programming glitch, we were able to repair it, non-invasive. Gave everyone a bit of a scare but it’s alright.” His eyes finally left your sickly body to look at the woman talking to him. “So this won’t happen again?” She shook her head with a proud smile. “It shouldn’t.” His eye twitched of pure annoyance but it wasn’t entirely her fault. “It shouldn’t or it won’t?” “It won’t.” With that he finally glanced back at you, this time your eyes actually meeting as you gave him a peace sign, a pained but goofy expression gracing your face. He simply nodded, not saying anything to the action, not even a smile or a laugh.

You two had finally gotten into a rhythm, once again at the table during dinner; however he had gotten more comfortable to the point where he could finally sit next to you, sometimes watching what you were watching or doing a crossword puzzle. An “old person activity” as you called it but he didn’t answer anytime you called it that, just rolling his eyes and continuing. “You feeling better?” He asked, a nod towards your incident just a few hours ago. “Just another Thursday.” You spoke dryly, digging another spoonful into your ice cream. “Uncle says this is the best medicine-” You motioned towards your ice cream, it basically melted at this point. “Tend to agree.” Once more, taking a bite and finishing your bowl of ice cream. “He's a very smart man.” “Only family I got.” “Closest thing to family I got too.” You smiled, turning your head in his direction. He didn’t seem like a friend person but you didn’t expect him to also not be a family person. Sam mentioned him a few times but you thought it was along the lines of taking him in like a stray dog, not another family member but more the merrier. “Maybe that kind of makes us family.” He smiled but said nothing, he was so annoying when he did that. With a yawn you started to turn back to your ice cream before he spoke. “You should go to bed.” It was odd of him to actually remind you of your bed time at this point so you looked at him weirdly, what you didn’t know is that every single camera overlooking the estate had just gone offline, which was a problem. The estate was huge and the land that surrounded it was even larger, so he knew that he needed the cameras and if they were offline then that means that someone else turned them off because he knew for a fact that he didn’t. Your head nodded towards him staring at his computer screen, you could see him looking at something through his eyeballs but he didn’t say anything about it and you thought maybe it was the reason behind his weird outburst about your bedtime.

You didn’t get a time to respond as the caretaker hovered over you, basically forcing you to get up even without touching you. “Alright little one, you heard the number. Let’s go.” You giggled, it was still so weird hearing someone refer to themselves as a number. “Night Robot.” You called out before turning to walk away from him. “Goodnight T. You can play another record tonight. Turn it all the way up.” Excitement filled your body immediately, now walking just a bit faster to your room than before to find a record to play., he never let you do that, it was always supposed to be played super low. Sometimes he would let it get a pinch higher but never would he let you turn it all the way up. Your hand pulled out “Silver Bird”, a song from the 70’s, if you were being honest that was all your taste consisted of. Your uncle was old and never really bought new vinyls unless he really liked the artist which was rare, you knew of some popular artist because of social media ; Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodgrio, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and even rap artists like Doechii or Kendrick Lamar but you had never truly listened to anything by any of these people because you couldn’t. Your tablet could only play movies and shows or games where all the ads were non-existent so the only music you had was whatever was in your Uncle’s collection from a little while ago but you enjoyed it.

You placed the record onto the player and immediately turned it all the way up, turning towards the bathroom in your room. Bucky came to your door, once again doing his routine knock but this time he didn’t tell you to turn the music down, he just made sure your door was closed, all the way. Sometimes you tended to leave it cracked just so that Bucky could hear it a little bit because you knew he liked the music even whenever he tried to pretend like he didn’t. Barely a moment after Bucky had closed your door, the men had broken in, glass shattering from one of the windows towards the front of the house but you were none the wiser because of how loud your music was playing. Bucky was completely silent in his actions, every take down was with such precision and accuracy that every man didn’t even get a chance to fire their gun, the thing that caught your attention was the sound of grunting and the movement of his flashlight going haywire in the window. He should have just been checking the hallways but from the view it looked like he was waving it everywhere and doing god knows what else.

Tiptoeing towards your door you pulled it open to see the sight of a man falling to the floor after being hit by Bucky. “Six?” Your voice shaky as you looked at him, he stared at your wide eyes from the hallway, giving you a light nod as if he was asking if you were ok. “Are you ok?” Your hand was still shakily holding the door knob, ensuring that everything was ok, in response he actually smiled again, you hadn’t seen him do that since the day you met. “Yeah, broke a bowl.” He held up what looked to be a piece of something but it was so far away that you couldn’t see exactly what it was. Your eyes moved down to the pair of legs sticking out from the wall, unmoving, was it a person? Were they dead? Was that what he was doing? You didn’t get a chance to question it before he stepped in front of the body, covering it with his own. You finally looked back up at him, eyes wide. “You sure you’re alright?” He nodded. “Just another Thursday.” You nod but don’t move yet, body still frozen in shock. “You should go to bed. Goodnight T.” “Goodnight Six.” Finally you turned away from him, heading down the hallway to your room, terror being the only thing that kept you from looking back before you eventually reached your door. Turning back to look at Six as he shut it, his posture still as stiff as the day you met except this time.. he smiled.