Hallucinations
Bucky is making dinner when he hears Steve slip in the door and turn on the radio. He huffs when it’s turned to a news station, but doesn’t tell Steve to turn it off. Steve pulls out a chair and sits noisily, pulling things out of his bag. Bucky smiles to himself.
“Making soup. Should be done soon."
“Thanks Buck.”
Bucky nods, keeping his attention on the stove.
The radio goes on about the war, as it’s going in Europe. Bucky muses that they’re lucky that their president isn’t going to get involved, although he knows that Steve thinks that they should be.
Bucky’s not going to say anything about it, not wanting to fight about it again.
“How’d class go today?” Bucky asks.
Steve pulls something out of his bag.
“Same as always.” Bucky can practically hear the shrug in Steve’s voice. He frowns.
“Something happen?”
“No.” Is the reply, too quick.
Bucky turns off the stove, and crosses his arms, turning to face Steve.
“Steve,” he starts. And stops.
In the corner is his mattress. A pile of pallets that he uses for a table. It's a small room, and he's been living here by himself for a few months now.
Steve is nowhere to be found. He’s off doing who knows what with the Avengers.
Bucky shivers, turning back to the stove.
He had imagined the whole conversation.
---
“Asset..” A voice whispers in his ear. Bucky whips around, looking for the speaker. There’s no one there. He grips the straps of his backpack, ignoring the glances of his fellow market goers.
Uneasy, he returns to his apartment earlier than he had planned.
Music starts playing in the middle of a song, only to be shut off again quickly. Frowning at his neighbor's doors, he enters his apartment quickly. He goes over every corner, checks everything, to be sure nothing was disturbed. Nothing has been.
Bucky breathes a sigh of relief and drops into a chair, head in hands.
No one has found him. Least of all, someone who calls him Asset.
---
“Rebecca Barnes! You come down here this minute!”
Bucky winces and turns his face into his pillow. It’s too early for whatever Becca has done to make Ma mad this time. He has no idea what it might be, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.
He hears a door slam, and feet stomping past his room, and Becca yells back. Their voices are raised, but he can’t make out the words. Bucky dozes off again.
“Bucky.” He hears outside his door. Ignoring Becca, he turns over. “Bucky.” She says again. He hears his door open, but he pretends to still be asleep. Maybe she’ll leave him alone, and get back to whatever it is that Ma had been yelling about. “I know you’re awake, stop faking.”
Caught out, Bucky sighs.
“What?” He asks, rolling over and opening his eyes. Taking a look at the room he’s in, he blinks and sits up. His apartment in Bucharest.
“What?” He asks again.
---
Bucky is making dinner, a day later when it happens again.
"Report back to base," a voice says behind him.
He spins around, spoon ready to be used as a weapon.
Again, no one was there.
He doesn't want to turn his back to the room again, not when there's something out here, taunting him. But the stove is on, and the food needs tending; so he settles for looking around every few minutes.
When a girl starts laughing, he starts. She sounds young, and he frowns. There aren't any children living on this floor. And it's early enough they should still be in school.
When the food is finished, he eats it mechanically, knowing that he needs to. Any desire left when the voices started again.
He's cleaning up when someone speaks again,
"Do you understand?" The voice says, deadly serious. Bucky shudders, grabs his backpack and runs out the door.
Running doesn't stop the voices. Most are taunting, or cruel. Demanding things from him.
His blood goes cold and he stops suddenly when the voice starts saying those words that take him from himself.
Bucky falls to his knees, gripping his hair painfully.
“Stop! Just stop! Please just leave me alone.”
The voice laughs, but stops.
For the moment.