Your Jamie
Avery had moved to her room, and SHIELD had dropped off her PC (finally). So, she was setting up her station for tomorrow. She was nervous; she wasn’t going to be included in missions so soon, but it kind of happened naturally. She was glad—training was hard, but it felt good to know that she was actually helping the team.
A knock came at the door. It must be Steve picking up the trackers.
"Just come in, Steve," Avery called out, and of course, it wasn’t Steve who walked in. Why would it be? She seemed to live her life embarrassing herself.
"It’s just me, erm, Steve said you had trackers for the mission tomorrow." Was he shuffling his feet? He definitely wasn’t making eye contact.
"What? I don’t get a 'Hey, Doll' anymore?" Avery said, moving to pick up the box of trackers.
"After last night and this morning, I wasn’t sure you were gonna be comfortable around me anymore." Avery handed him the box.
"Jamie," she sighed, looking into his eyes. He looked a little shocked—maybe Jamie wasn’t something people called him. "I am comfortable around you. You wouldn’t have stayed last night if I didn’t."
"About me being jealous... I just didn’t get it. Then Sam told me I was being an idiot, and I saw Steve, and he said the same thing." He moved to sit on Avery's bed, just staring at the box in his hands.
"We’ve both had stupid moments. Are you really just here for the trackers?" Avery didn’t want him to leave, but technically, he hadn’t apologized yet, and being stubborn was a fact about her. So, she wanted to stand her ground.
"No, I came to say sorry, Doll. I didn’t mean to accuse you. I just can’t stand the idea that you might be close to other men." Yes, finally, Bucky. Great. He got up, box in hand, and started heading for the door.
"You know that Peter is my friend, and I consider the rest of the team friends, too. So, in that sense, I am close with other men." Avery could deal with jealousy, but only if he didn’t expect her to drop everyone else.
"Yes, I know you are friends with them. I want you to have friends. I shouldn’t have reacted that way." With the box of trackers in hand, he was looking at the door like he was about to leave.
"Jamie, please stay." Avery took the box out of his hand and placed it on the table. "Stay the night again."
"Doll... you don’t have to... I’ll be fine." He looked sad, like his mouth was saying the opposite of what he wanted. Avery took his hand and led him to the bed.
"Stay for me, Jamie." With that, he took off his shoes and changed into some clothes, leaving himself in boxers and a t-shirt—similar to Avery. It was hot, but she tried to push those thoughts out of her head and keep it innocent for now.
She cuddled into him as they got into bed. The warmth he had—Avery adored being like this with him. It felt real, and all the worries that had been running through her head about her and him seemed to disappear.
"You know, I don’t think anyone has called me Jamie before," he said.
It made Avery giggle, the amount of names this man had, and he had never been called Jamie before.
"Is it okay for me to call you that?" It felt right, like everything else was a name that other people called him.
"I like it. It feels new. Everything else seems like it’s a name for another person... or just me in a different time." He held her against him tighter.
"My Jamie, then," Avery mumbled, drifting off to sleep.
Bucky lay there, eyes half-closed, trying to settle into the warmth that surrounded him. Her words, her presence, all felt too good to be true. There was a peacefulness he hadn't felt in years. For a long time, he had been used to nightmares, to waking up cold and tense. But tonight, with Avery beside him, something inside of him relaxed. His thoughts weren’t racing, his heart wasn’t pounding. He wasn’t worried about the past, or about what would come tomorrow. He was just... here.
"Your Jamie," he whispered as he drifted off.