You looked out of your window to the street below. It was eerily silent tonight; yet you could not sleep. You knew why, but it didn’t make it any easier. You were tired- exhausted even, but sleep taunted you. You let out a remorseful sigh and leant your head against the window lazily. It blocked your view but there was a slight pain developing in your neck from sitting in the same odd position for the past hour. You were new to the city- cities in general, really. When you were younger you had visited the odd city, however, those cities were much smaller than the one your current home resided. It was all new to you, the people, the sounds, the smells… even the inside of your apartment looked different. It was all overwhelming, moments of peace for you were difficult to find- peace felt different here too, it seemed. But you would persist, like you always did. At least you weren’t alone, you thought, glancing over to the small furry cat that slept in the corner of the room. Of course, the cat could sleep though. They hadn’t moved for hours and if the slow rise and fall of their chest hadn’t given away how deeply asleep they were, the occasional light snores were a constant reminder. As it turned out, the cat enjoyed taunting you too.
A weird sound came from outside your front door. You turned to face it, acting as though you had x-ray vision and could see the cause through the wood. Obviously, you didn’t have x-ray vision and staring at the door didn’t help you to deduce what had happened. You were going to ignore the sound when there were a few other soft bangs from outside. Since you had nothing better to do, you decided to investigate. You stood up, a little bit too quickly as you realised the world paled slightly, causing you to freeze in place. Once the world had returned to its normal vibrancy, you quickly and quietly made your way to the door, balancing on the ball of your feet to reach the peephole. The image of the outside of your doorway was unfocused so you pressed yourself closer until it had become a bit clearer. You could not see anything unusual, yet there was another soft bang coming from outside. You stepped back from the door to unlock it, deciding to be sure there was nothing of interest outside, and pulled the door open. There was nothing. Nothing you could see, anyway. To your left was the wall and a small window- your apartment was located at the very end of the corridor. Your neighbour’s door was opposite you and located slightly to your right, the brassy door hinges shone like new in contrast to the obviously older door and handle… but other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. You were about to step back when your cat shot out of your apartment. You cursed and called out their name, quickly grabbing a spare key so you wouldn’t accidentally get locked out. By the time you had collected the key, your cat sat by the door you had just been staring at and sniffed at the gap underneath. You huffed before walking slowly towards him, trying to not cause him to run further astray. You had almost been in reaching distance when the door swung open, revealing a sleepy super soldier. Your neighbour, Bucky Barnes. You smiled sheepishly and pulled your jacket tighter to your body in a (failed) attempt to hide your pyjamas, briefly forgetting why you were stood there when your cat decided to remind you and ran into his apartment. Oh no.
“I’m so sorry!” You said immediately, standing straighter and stepping closer to his doorway. He smiled,
“Don’t worry about it, I know what they’re like.” He gestured to the small white cat nestled on a jacket of his that had seemingly fallen onto the floor on the other side of the room. Cute, you thought. “I’ll get them for you now.” He turned and walked to where his white cat slept as your cat approached her slowly. You noticed that his apartment was fairly empty. You could only see a sofa, a large rug on the floor, an old-fashioned lamp which stood beside the sofa, and a cat tree which stood by the sleeping cat. Typical, you thought. You knew that there were a few other bits there, but you didn’t want to invade his privacy even further.
“Thanks.” You said, “I’m genuinely really sorry. I just heard some weird noises and just opened the door quickly to check when someone decided to run for it.” You explained, hoping that it would lessen the awkwardness of the situation. He was a decent-looking guy (great if you were being honest with yourself). Even now, when he was visibly tired. You bit your lower lip slightly, trying to forget how unkempt you must have looked in that moment and took in what you were seeing properly. His long hair was layered and swept away from his face and tucked behind his ears, he wore a tight-fitting plain burgundy t-shirt, and loose-fitting navy lounge trousers. The shirt was short-sleeved and revealed his black and gold metal arm, which glittered in the light of his apartment. Okay, maybe you were paying too much attention to him. Was that weird? You blinked a few times to try and ground yourself in the moment and watched as he approached your cat gently, leaning over and picking them up as if they were a small baby- in the exact same way you held them. Immediately, your cat began to purr loudly and bumped their head on Bucky’s chin, causing him to smile again. You didn’t really know him well, despite having met him quite a few times before. You knew what you had seen on the news and on the internet. You knew about the Winter Soldier to the extent that everyone else did, but he never had given you a reason to distrust him. He had the opposite effect actually- you felt safer knowing an actual superhero lived across from you. He wasn’t one for long, deep conversations with strangers, and you couldn’t hold that against him. He stood in front of you.
“That was me. Sorry for waking you up.” He apologised. Your thoughts had fallen so deep, you had forgotten what he was responding to.
“Hm?” You asked, stepping alarmingly close to his as he crouched slightly, indicating to you to grab your cat. Your arm and hand lightly brushed his chest as you picked up your misbehaving furry child.
“The noise. Alpine decided she was going to be a princess and knock over her new cat tree. Repeatedly.” He shot a look over to the innocently sleeping cat who had now sprawled across his jacket, lightly twitching. You laughed, nodding as you adjusted your grip on your cat and stepped away.
“It’s fine. I wasn’t even able to sleep.” You responded, turning to look out of the corridor’s window.
“You like to sit by the windows too?” Bucky said softly. You turned to look at him, confused. “I couldn’t sleep either. So I built a cat tree- twice- and when Alpine decided it wasn’t good enough, I watched outside.” You gave a small smile, nodding gently as you reassuringly pet your cat.
“I miss the stars.” You replied. When you were at home and had sleepless nights, on clear nights, you always had the stars to accompany you. That changed with your move to the city.
“So do I.” Bucky responded. He paused, as if contemplating something. And then, he spoke again. “Actually, I have an idea. If you want to?” Your cat scrambled out of your arms before running to your apartment, knocking several things over until they landed on the spot they were previously sleeping. Did your cat set you up? You thought, before turning back to Bucky.
“What’s the idea?” You asked. He grinned nervously,
“I know this spot. It’s not far from here, just a short drive. It’s really quiet and you can see the stars from there. Faint, but beautiful.” You thought through his offer, and apparently the hesitation had made him anxious. “You don’t have to. I just thought because you said you couldn’t sleep and I couldn't… I thought it could be nice. Don’t feel pressured or anything I-“ He rambled before you cut him off,
“I’d love to,” You decided out loud. You could see a wave of calm wash over him and he smiled again.
“Great. Just let me grab a few things and I’ll come back out.” He said.
“I’ll go get some shoes.” You replied, gesturing behind you, “I’ll be right back too.” He nodded and the two of you turned in separate directions. You rushed quickly into your apartment, swinging the door shut so your cat couldn't escape again- although he was sound asleep yet again. You grabbed a nicer jacket and slipped on a pair of shoes, scrambling together all of the absolute-essentials that you always had to carry with you, slipping them into your small bag as you rushed back out of the door. You still had your key with you, so you were good to go. Your apartment door locked behind you and you realised you were the first one out. It wasn’t long though until Bucky joined you, a large rucksack swung over his shoulder and carrying two motorbike helmets in his hands.
“Safety.” He mentioned when he noticed you staring at the helmets. In all honesty, you had forgotten about the fact he frequently travelled by motorbike. You had seen him arrive and leave on it before. You were fine. All was good. You definitely weren’t lightly panicking at the idea of having to ride behind him on the motorbike. Cool, cool, cool.
“You good?” He asked you. You nodded, releasing a deep breath and smiled,
“I’m good. Ready?” You asked. He smiled. Apparently, you were both very good at making the other smile. And both of your cats were troublemakers.
On the way to where he had parked his motorbike you had mentioned feeling underdressed from being in your pyjamas. He had told you not to worry, he was in his too. You weren’t going to correct him and say that he actually looked put together, unlike you with your cutesy pyjama bottoms. For the duration of the journey on the motorbike, you sat with the side of your face resting against his tense back and had both of your arms wrapped tightly around his lower torso. You were definitely not going to read into any of that. Or how warm he was in contrast the crisp night air. Once he slowed the motorbike to a halt, he balanced it by putting his feet on the ground either side of it and instructed you to get off. You used him for balance as you swung your leg over and took a step away. He parked it properly and dismounted, pausing by where he had stored both his and your bags and handed you your bag.
“Thanks.” You responded. He nodded and pointed in a direction in front of you, his arm brushing your shoulder.
“This way.” He said, leading you to his secret location. When you arrived, he had opened his rucksack and revealed two large blankets he had brought. Using the thickest as a mattress and the other soft one as the layer for warmth, the two of you laid beside each other on the ground. As your eyes adjusted to the darkness, the stars began to shine through the dark expanse of the sky. You watched as the stars twinkled, feeling an odd sense of familiarity.
“It’s beautiful here.” You said, entranced by the beauty that was the sky. He laughed,
“That’s why I love to come here.” He responded, shifting in his spot, which caused some of the cold air to flow under the blanket.
“Aren’t you cold?” You asked, breaking your eye contact with the stars to look at him. He shook his head,
“Are you?” He asked, looking at you in return. You nodded, taking a deep breath and felt the cold air sit inside your body. You were colder than you’d probably be willing to admit. He lifted his arm, indicating to you to scoot closer to him. “Come closer to me, I’m practically an oven.” You raised an eyebrow at him,
“You’re an oven?” You questioned.
“The super soldier serum, it makes you…” He trailed off, mentally in search of the correct words.
“A human radiator?” You offered. He nodded with a laugh,
“Yes. Basically.” He held the blanket up for it to be easier for you to scoot closer without ruining your setup, “Come on. I promise I won’t be weird.” You smiled as he gestured with his head for you to go closer, so you obeyed. When your hip bumped into him, you realised that he wasn’t lying- he was hot. You settled next to him, and he lightly rested his hand on your forearm. Had you not met him prior, you probably would have felt a sense of discomfort. But, to your surprise too, you felt happy.
“That okay?” You asked, ensuring that you weren’t crossing his boundary of comfort. You didn’t want to make him uncomfortable- he seemed like someone you wanted to have more of in your life, if you were lucky. You didn’t know that he was thinking similarly.
“Yeah.” He said, using his free hand as a pillow for his head, his fingers tangling in his hair. “You?”
“I’m good.” You responded, almost a whisper as you both redirected your eyes to the stars above. Occasionally, there were fainter glints unseen by you before in the sky, hinting at how massive the universe truly was.
“Do you know these stars?” You asked him. He nodded,
“Some.”
“Tell me.” You responded, and he did. He listed the ones he could remember, lining his gaze up with yours so that he could point to them as he named them. You listened until he ran out of stars that he knew. Then, as you laid there, your conversation was sparse, but both of you learned more about the other. You didn’t know when you fell asleep. You only realised that you had when Bucky gently woke you up. You were slightly confused for a moment and turned to the sky. As you saw the beginning of the sunrise, you remembered the night, causing you to form a small smile. Amber bled into the violet of the night sky, the moon was still there though the stars had mostly faded from view. There were a few clouds that hung in the sky, dark blue but catching the gold of the sun as it peeked over the horizon.
“Wow.” You said. You had your fair share of beautiful sunrises, but had forgotten how much you missed the colour of the sunrise and sunset.
“Like I said before, I like to come here often.” He said, turning from you to the sky. You glanced at him and saw the gold of the rising sun reflect in his ice blue eyes. You turned back to the sky, shifting in your position, noting that your body now ached all over from resting on the ground. Bucky removed his arm from you and sat up, obviously slightly affected by the awkward sleeping position too. He probably hadn’t moved for the duration of your sleep. How long did you sleep? You weren’t sure if you should ask. You forced yourself to sit up beside him.
“We should probably head back soon,” You said disappointedly, “We both have some furry children who would probably want some breakfast soon.” You said. He nodded in agreement, standing up. He offered a hand to you, which you took, and he helped you stand. He packed away the blankets and lead you back to where he had parked the motorbike. The ride home was nice. You were still tired, but it didn’t feel so heavy now. With the golden sky and slightly closer relationship to your lovely neighbour, you felt content. So did Bucky. When the two of you arrived home, he unlocked your door for you before heading over to his. He slid his key into the slightly faulty lock.
“Hey Bucky?” You called. He turned to you. “We should do something like this again.” You offered. He smiled tiredly and nodded,
“We definitely should.” He opened his door, and you opened yours.
“I look forwards to it.” You said, stepping into your room, ensuring that your cat didn’t try to escape again.
“Me too.” He said, and the two of you closed your apartment’s doors.
Maybe your cats did set you up. Maybe that was good. You looked over to the sleepy cat, who’s ears twitched, betraying the fact that they definitely had woken up and they were just ignoring you.
“Breakfast?” You called to them, and the cat perked up immediately, letting out a happy meow. In Bucky’s apartment, he did the same. You leant over to your cat whose face was deep in their food dish, eating, and gently pet them on the head. “I’m going to have a nap.” You told them, heading to your bed and falling asleep quickly after you laid down, but before you had, you reflected once again on your night with a smile. Maybe moving to the city was worth it.