Chapter 1
The first thing Buck notices when he wakes up is the presence of someone else in the room. Which is odd because he hasn’t been bunked with anyone in the last six months.
When he looks across to his new bunkmate he first thinks “Wow this dude is tiny”, upon further inspection he realizes it’s a child! A literal child who couldn’t have been no more then ten years old.
Buck slowly gets up to get a better view of the kid. He can see the kid thrashing about in his sleep, anguish and pain evident on his face. Heavy breathes coming out in short bursts. He was most likely having a nightmare.
Buck finally decides to walk across the rest of the room and wake the kid up before he hurt himself. Walking closer, Bucky grabbed the kids shoulder and giving him a shake.
The young brunet finally wakes up looking like he has no clue what is happening and where the hell he is.
“Kid, my name is Bucky. Do you know what your name is?” Buck asked in a gentle tone as to not spook the kid anymore then he probably already was.
Instantly Buck wanted to comfort him when he saw those big brown eyes well up with tears.
“Where are we? Where is my dad?” the young boy asked, tears nearly spilling over.
Bucky felt the sudden urge to protect this kid from anything. He hated that he was about to break some sad news to him. There was a high possibility that this kid would not see his dad again. This place wasn’t really known for just letting mutants go. In the six months that he had been there, he had only ever seen people leave in a body bag.
The taller man approached the young child and sat at the edge of the bed. “Kid, I’m sorry to tell you I don’t know where your dad is. Where we are, I can’t really answer you either.
As far as I know this is a place where they take mutants.” The tall brunet said to the child. “Do you have a name or do I gotta keep calling you kid?”
“My name is Peter, but my dad just calls me Pete or queens.” He responded.
“Well, hi Chris, my name is James, but you can call me Bucky.” Buck told him. “Are you a mutant as well? Has your dad told you about that or what it is?”.
Chris looked like he was nervous to say if he was or if he knew what it meant. A lot of people felt that way. Half the world didn’t mind mutants while the other half just assumed, they were power hungry monsters who wanted to take over the world.
“My dad says I’m not supposed to talk about it.” He whispered almost to quiet to be heard.
Buck knew what he was doing. He was trying to protect himself. He was probably told his entire life that being a mutant was something he had to keep under wraps. Not because it was anything to be ashamed about but because it could potentially hurt him. That’s exactly what is happening right now. Peter was most likely kidnapped for showing some sign of being a mutant and was brought here, away from his family. From the people who would be wondering if their little boy was still alive somewhere.
Bucky sat on the end of his bunk and tried to get Peter’s attention. “Hey, you have nothing to be worried about. I am a mutant to. You can trust me.”
You could still see the tension in the little guys shoulders. It made Buck feel for him. No kid should have to feel this.
“You don’t have to tell me what your ability is if you don’t feel comfortable, so how about I just tell you mine. My ability is I’m a telepath. It means I can control things with my mind. Do you see this collar on me? Well the people who are keeping us in here put it on me so I wouldn’t be able to use my ability. Im also really strong.” Buck explained to the younger boy.
Peter’s hands slowly went up to his neck and felt the collar they had put on him when they had taken him. He still looked as if he was scared to talk still so Buck continued.
“From what I’ve gathered these collars stabilize our abilities. They make it so we can’t attack the guards and escape.”
Buck looked around the room as he was talking to give Chris some time to process what he was telling him. The room hadn’t changed in the six months he had been there. The beds were still the boring grey they had always been. The walls were still the almost blinding white from when he first got here. There was a sink and a toilet in one of the corners with a small divider for privacy. Other then that was only one door that led into the room, no windows. They were completely isolated away from the world.
“My dad calls me an empath. He says I can make people happy when they’re sad.” Was the answer Chris gave him once he was ready to talk. “ I can stick to things to.”
Buck knew there was more to it then just that. He knew what empaths could do. They could manipulate people’s emotions. Make them feel hurt and pain with just their mind. But also, happiness and warmth in the darkest of times. Empaths always were normally not cared about only because their ability wasn’t considered dangerous when in reality, it could be one of the most dangerous out there. He’d have to figure out the sticking to things later.
Before Buck could ask him any more questions Peter was asleep. The days events must’ve caught up to him. Bucky waited a bit just watching to see if anything changed. When nothing did, he was able to fall asleep.