[log] caught in a snowdrift [closed]

[advanced]

Characters: Flynn and Bucky
Location: Between houses
Date: Day 380
Summary: Flynn gets caught in a snowdrift, Bucky helps, they bond
Warnings: None

[Bucky had really thought that Flynn wouldn't come back, he'd stick with his other friends and his woman, so why had he come back? Bucky isn't exactly a personable travelling companion, he's quiet a lot of the time and doesn't invite confidences, but somehow Flynn isn't put off. It's made him thaw just a little, in small ways, like turning his back while they're travelling without worrying that Flynn might plant a knife in it.

Turns out, turning his back was a bad idea.

There's a crunch and soft thwump of snow, and when he turns around Flynn is half buried under deeply compacted snow. He's not sure whether to be annoyed, concerned, or laugh. In the end, he goes for a mixture of the first two, walking back a couple of paces and looking down.]

You okay?

Comments

[cahooted]

I g-guess...

[He hisses when he's being moved again but makes a visible effort to pull himself together.]

Appreciate... it.

[advanced]

[Flynn is deathly cold against his chest, and he's a little afraid that the man is going to go into shock. He can't let that happen, so he has to give Flynn something to focus on and keep him alert, keep him from sliding. But what? He thinks for a moment or two as he gets Flynn properly situated in his arms, but he can only think of one thing.]

You can ask me three questions. Anything.

[He doesn't like this, but it's always been for the sake of others that he pushes past his comfort zones, and he knows it drives Flynn wild that he's so silent in the face of his endless babble.]

But only if you focus.

[cahooted]

T-three questions...?

[Oh man. That is so much and so little at the same time? Because immediately his mind goes into overdrive with all the things he has wondered about Bucky, the little fragments he's learned, all those things that still remain a mystery...]

O-okay.

[Focus. That's the deal. Flynn clenches his teeth when Bucky starts moving and the rocking motions send various jolts of pain through his body.]

H-how did you escape the people you worked for?

[advanced]

[He doesn't know what path Flynn is going to dive down first, but he's got himself braced for the worst. From what had been seen before, the memories they both try to forget having shared, he has to have too many questions.

He's not expecting that exact one, but it's not as bad as some of the things that could be asked. It's intimate, though, deeply personal and he has to take a moment to find the right words.]

They sent me to kill someone I used to know. He refused to fight me even though I didn't know who he was, he was gonna let me kill him. Something about him-- the things he said-- it made me not go back. I'm still not really sure how I made that decision, and once I made the decision to go then it was hard for them to find me. They taught me really well.

[cahooted]

[Flynn listens, trying to stifle the sounds of discomfort that escape through his nose from time to time.

So he had some help. That means he must have a friend back in his world. The thought that someone managed to break through that cold persona he met in the horrid dreamscape makes him stupidly happy for some reason and he smiles against Bucky's back.]

I'm g-glad you... got out.

[Two more questions.]

But h-how come you don't age, are you Im-Immortal?

[advanced]

[He hears those noises as much as Flynn tries to stifle them and it makes him want to slow down, take even more care to not jolt him. But he can't, the sun is already dangerously low and they still have a good half mile to go to reach a house, this is as slow as he dares go.

He'll just have to hope that the questions and answers are enough to keep Flynn from falling unconscious or going into shock, even if the discomfort of them is enough to have all of Bucky's muscles tensing.]

No.

[His fingers twitch where he's holding onto Flynn.]

They put me in cryogenic freeze when I wasn't needed, just another weapon in storage.

[cahooted]

[The answer comes as enough of a shock to make Flynn briefly raise his head. Pain explodes behind his temple and he lets it drop back down against Bucky's frame immediately.]

What?

[Okay, that is just... disturbing and he sounds genuinely distressed on Bucky's behalf there.]

T-that's terrible, I'm s-s-sorry.

[advanced]

Yeah.

[He's not going to deny that it was terrible, because it was. He'll never forget the dehumanising experience of being dragged half conscious out of storage, or the way the cold sank so deep that he never felt warm.]

Nearly there, ten minutes and one more question.

[Moving on, please.]

[cahooted]

[One more question. There are so many and Flynn's mind is buzzing with all the things he wants to know. Who were these people who had captured and changed him so much? How many people had he killed?

But that last answer was terrible and he still feels for Bucky. He's quiet for a good long minute until eventually,]

What will you do when we get out of here?

[advanced]

[He snorts and does his best to move to a light jog without jolting Flynn too much, because he's very aware of how little light is remaining now.]

You like the hard questions, huh?

[Then again, are there easy ones?]

I don't know. People from my future have told me what happens, but maybe that changes now, so I guess I'll find out if it ever happens.

[cahooted]

Actually, I was trying to let you off the hook about intimate tragic pasts... I guess that one worked better in my head.

[Oh well. Moving on?]

You met people from your future?

[It's not like the official three question limit is going to just make him stop.]

[advanced]

Yeah.

[This question isn't so bad, and so he'll allow it, but mostly because these questions have kept Flynn going so far and he doesn't want him to fall into shock just because Bucky decides to shut up.]

I'm not the only one, timelines are kind of weird here.

[cahooted]

Oh.

[He looks up in surprise, immediately looking a bit more alive with his curiosity piqued.]

I didn't realize that. Who else is from your world?

[advanced]

Now? Just Stephen Strange, the others are all dead.

[It's not a topic of conversation he enjoys, but he can see that Flynn is more animated and so he feels kind of trapped.]

But there were a few. Tony Stark, Natasha Romonov, Clint Barton, Peggy Carter... Steve Rogers.

[cahooted]

Stephen? Oh hey, so you're from Peter's world! ... Uh, sorry. I remember, you two don't really get along.

[Awkward! Can he salvage this? How about he focuses on those other names instead, that surely is the much better topic here, right?

Right?]

Steve, why does that sound-- oh right, Sheena told me about him. She said he used to take pictures of books like I do now with the library?

[advanced]

[He'd wilfully forgotten about Peter; partly because he hates him, and partly because the guy is apparently from space and so they can't really be said to be from the same world.

His grip tightens around Flynn just for a moment before he makes himself relax again.]

That sounds like something he'd do, Steve always liked to help out.

[cahooted]

Yeah? He sounds like a great guy. I would have liked to meet him.

[And then through the haze of the pain he realizes that he can't meet him because he must have died in this place at some point.]

... I'm sorry.

[advanced]

He was.

[Despite himself, Bucky's voice still softens in a way that it never would for anyone but stupid Steve Rogers.]

Best guy I ever met. And don't be sorry, he's way too stubborn to stay down for good, he'll be back.

[cahooted]

[That is a new tone and Flynn falls silent, a bit afraid that with the next stupid thing he says he might ruin the moment. But he smiles, because it's rare to get emotional statements from Bucky like that and it's heartwarming in the biting cold out here.]

Well, then I'm looking forward to meeting him.

[advanced]

Yeah, he'll probably like you, even if you talk too much.

[Then again, Steve likes most people as long as they're not bullies or HYDRA.]

He's kind of stupid like that.

[cahooted]

So he has good taste, too.

[He grins at that, then feigns innocent surprise.]

You t-think I talk too much?

[advanced]

I know you talk too much.

[That's delivered flatly.]

...hold on, I'm gonna have to run to get us in, and it won't feel good.

[cahooted]

M-maybe you just t-talk too little.

[He pulls a face at the news but nods, holding on tight.]

Yeah, o-okay. Beats freezing to death, I'm s-sure.

[advanced]

I talk the right amount.

[It's a half grumbled admonishment before he sets off at a dead run. Even without his serum enhancing what he can do to superhuman levels, Bucky still has seventy years of intense physical training to fall back on, a lot of it in sub-optimal conditions, so he moves through the snow with surprising efficiency and speed.

He does his best to cradle Flynn as close as he can to minimise the impact of the jolts on his injuries, but he won't be able to do much and still maintain the pace he needs. It's only a twenty minute run, though it probably feels longer to poor banged up Flynn, and even then they're only just skidding inside before the doors lockdown.]

[cahooted]

That's debatab-ahhhnh.

[The word drowns out into a pained grunt and his fingers claw into the fabric of Bucky's clothes. Okay. Okay, maybe he can leave the arguing and the talking for later. He manages to stifle the screams but not the pained sounds that escape him from time to time, growing a little more frantic as time progresses. The trek seems to drag on for a lifetime if he weren't too focused on the pain to speak he'd probably be a very annoying broken record of 'are we there yet?' because oh God, are they there yet??

When they finally reach the house and stumble inside he gasps for breath before clenching his teeth, exhaling with a low, agonized growl.]

Am having. Such. A bad day.