Daylight

RJ's world came back to him slowly. First, his hearing came back, and he heard three muffled voices talking far away. His brain took a while to identify who the voices belonged to. "Sam, Steve, and Bucky," something told him.

Then he felt the sheets that involved him, warm and comforting, familiar. He remembered when Steve took him to the mall, and he chose this one; it was a good memory.

"I don't know what to do if he wants to leave," RJ heard Bucky say, the man's voice louder than a whisper. It looked like he was talking between his teeth.

They were probably talking about him. How they wanted him for more missions and how they needed his abilities to be better, that was all that he had to offer to them anyways.

Before new thoughts could form in his head, RJ felt something climbing on the bed, something too small to be Bucky or Steve, so... Alpine?

RJ forced his eyes to open even though his eyelids were heavy. Before the world could even come into focus, he recognized the cat with pointy ears, white fur, and loving eyes.

"Hi Al," He said, but he did not recognize his voice.

He felt Steve and Bucky's eyes turning towards him, and he heard footsteps coming towards the bed. RJ could now recognize that he was in his bedroom, the same bedroom that he first got. But right now, the difference is so clear. He knew Bucky and Steve, he trusted them, loved them. Knew that their bedroom was on the next door, that Steve liked to cook breakfast and mornings run, that sometimes Bucky would sleep late and liked meditating.

"Hey, RJ. How are you feeling?" Steve's voice was so comforting, so caring that every fiber of his body was screaming to believe in it, to lean in a hug then and let himself be 16 years old with a usual family, but he couldn't, not after everything that had happened on the last few hours.

RJ felt his chest compressing, tried to put air in his lungs, but it wasn't coming. He looked at Steve and Bucky and felt his eyes burning with tears that were about to be shed, but he couldn't let them fall. If he starts, he won't be able to stop.

Against his best efforts, a tear fell, then another, then another, and he tried to stop them by making him invisible by making him small. So he curled up on the bed, letting out a sob.

He felt the mattress sinking in from both sides and knew that Bucky and Steve were beside him. A hand on his back comforted him, while another ran fingers through his hair.

"Why did you say that?" RJ said, hoping his voice wasn't as muffed to the point where they couldn't understand him.

"What, RJ?" Bucky said, and RJ could hear the confusion in his voice.

"Why did you say those things to Mr. Colt?" Another sob ripped through his body.

"Because I love you, kid. I love you, and I would fight the whole world to get you back-"

"Don't call me kid. I'm no kid."

"RJ, you are 16. You are a kid." Steve tried to reason with him.

"I'm not. I know what I'm doing, I know. I heard too, you knew too, why don't you stop pretending?" Now RJ stood up and faced Bucky in the eyes.

"I don't understand-" Bucky looked at Steve for help.

"RJ, what did Colt tell you?"

"He didn't need to tell me. He showed me. He showed me you telling him you were only using me, that you didn't love me and that I was just a killer to you." It hurt for him to admit it, but apparently, it was hurting Bucky even more.

"No, no, no, no! He lied to you. He lied. I didn't say those things. RJ, he said those things, he tried to manipulate me into saying those things, but I could never. Never. You know that."

"RJ, we never lied to you. Even the hardest truth, he never hid it. We are not Hydra. You go on missions with Bucky because it makes you happy. You train and fight because this is what you like, at least it's what we thought. But don't ever think for a moment that we don't want you or that we don't like you."

RJ did not know what to do with that, so he did nothing. He laid in bed, feeling the softening presence of Bucky and Steve beside him as a million thoughts ran through his head.

"I like going to missions" Was the first thing he decided to say.

"I like it when you go to missions, too," Bucky said with a smirk on his face.

"Can I stay here?"

"Of course," Steve said. "We honestly don't know what to do without you."

"I don't wanna leave this bed," RJ said as he adjusted himself and made him even more comfortable.

"And you don't need to," Bucky said and laid beside him.

"How about we put some movies in?"

They spend the rest of the day watching movies on Steve's computer.

The rest of the days followed at almost a normal pace. RJ now was seeing his shrink every day to try and overcome the trauma that he had been through, which every time made him roll his eyes. His whole life had been an immense trauma, and what happened had only been the tip of the iceberg.

Bucky and Steve wouldn't admit it as well, but they were trying everything they could to make RJ feel welcomed and loved. Steve would make his favorite dishes, and they would watch his favorite movies. Everything RJ asked would be given without a question asked. At night, the only thing they could hope for was that it was enough.

They all decided to go on a family vacation not that long after running away from their responsibilities was good and the best decision they ever had.

"I've never traveled before," RJ said in a low voice as he watched the waves hit the sand in Hawaii, "Not on vacation, at least."

"Are you liking it?" Bucky asked with a hand on his shoulder as he pulled the boy closer.

"I think this is the best day of my life."

"Really?"

"Don't get cocky. It doesn't have much competition," RJ said, and it was supposed to come out like a joke; instead, it made him sad to think about it.

"Guess we need to have to put some effort into that. There are so many beautiful places in the world that we can make good memories. You're going to love it."

Steve returned with two drinks in his hands and handed one of them to Bucky and sat on the chair next to him.

"What are you two talking about?"

"More vacations," RJ said.

"We just arrived here. We didn't even see a volcano yet."

"I want to see the pyramids one day," Bucky said, teasing Steve.

"How about we see Hawaii first?"

"After the pyramids, we could go to Greece," RJ added up.

"Pompeii would be nice too, I've always wanted to go."

"You two are the worst."

They stood seated watching as the sun was vanishing on the horizon. Bucky looked at his side and couldn't believe how lucky he was. He had a family, a son, and a husband. What else could he ask?