Title: awake.
Fandom: MCU—WandaVision/The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Characters: Wanda/Bucky.
Prompt: Nightmare.
Rating: PG-13.
Length: 800.
Content warnings: Vague spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. References to PTSD.
Author’s notes: Also written for getyourwordsout’s "bang".
Summary: Bucky finds Wanda at the boat after she has a nightmare.


Bucky startles awake.

Heart racing furiously in his chest, he presses his hand hard against his sticky shirt, the dog tags around his neck feeling like a heavy, constricting weight. Trying to breathe deeply, he attempts to calm down his heart and mind. That bang had sounded like a gunshot—one that hit its target in precision.

Then he hears it again. Bang!

Peeling the covers away from him, he slides out of bed and quickly makes his way through the hallways and to the front room.

Bang!

Brows furrowed, he forgoes grabbing a robe or even slipping into longer pants. He’s quick to tiptoe out of the Wilson house into the depths of night. He’s circled the house’s perimetre at various times of the day to learn where to step his feet. He misses a toy car with his left foot while his right brushes against some rope the boys had been using to play skip with Wanda.

The pier’s lit by a series of glowing lights. If he hadn’t been looking for it, he would’ve missed the gold baubles’ red tinge. She’s at the end of the pier, taking a wide step out of the Paul & Darlene.

"Captain," he calls out, saluting her. Wanda doesn’t startle, not like he would. She merely smiles at him before she wiggles her fingers and magically pulls the boat’s thick and coarse ropes up into the air to wrap gently around her wrist. He’s quick to run across the loose planks of the pier to reach her.

Breathless, he slows so he can come to stand as casually as possible at the end of the pier. With his hands on his hips, he eyes her curiously. "What are you doing, Wanda?"

She doesn’t look at him. With a shrug, she lets the rope go from around her wrist. She doesn’t tie it around the pole; her magic does. He watches in amazement as the rope tugs itself right around its wooden pole in a neat knot.

He sighs heavily. "You had another nightmare, didn’t you?"

Wanda’s lack of reply is enough of an answer for him.

"Hey," he says gently, taking a step towards her. Reaching out to brush his fingers against the crook of her elbow, he ducks his head to try and catch her gaze. "You can wake me up when this happens."

She shakes her head. "Not when you’re finally getting a good night’s rest." It takes her a moment to look at him, and when she does, it’s with a small smile. "It’s the first one you’ve had in days."

His fingers squeeze her arm. He takes a step forward and rests his Vibranium hand against the small of her back. "You can wake me up any time, Wanda," he says gently. "I don’t want you to feel like you can’t ever do that."

Wanda looks out at the boat, curling her fingers lightly into her palms. Her hands glow red, but it’s a gentle, warm kind of tone.

"What were you doing that was making loud banging sounds?"

She seems sheepish. "I was trying to fix the window," she says. With a gesture of her hand, the window closest to them glows a faint red. It’s the one Sam’s been complaining about for weeks now. Unsteady in its frame, the glass is slowly cracking against even the softest of breezes. It’s the only window of the boat that they can’t seem to pull out without the risk of slicing their hands open.

Bucky gives her a small smile. "Any luck?"

Wanda smiles at him. "A lot. Didn’t you see? It’s a new sheet of glass."

He looks back at the window, narrowing his eyes against the darkness. Even though she’s lit the pier up with lights that look like fireflies, it’s still hard for him to see the finger details of the boat. Maybe his age is finally catching up to him.

"Sam will be happy," he says, giving the small of her back a gentle rub. "But you don’t have to do that at two in the morning."

She shrugs, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "I know," she says quietly. "But I can’t lie in bed and wait until I’m tired again. I’m never tired."

Sliding his hand from the small of her back to wrap around her shoulders, he tugs her to him. She smiles, sliding her hand to his hip to hold him close. "We’re going to have to do something about that."

It’s with quick movements that he scoops her up into his arms. Wanda laughs too loudly, the sound echoing around them. She wraps her arms around his neck and beams up at him. The lights around them snuff out as he walks by them back to the house.