@ediazlafd continued from [HERE]
Just as Eddie was relieved and pleasantly surprised to see patience coming from him, Bucky was grateful to see that his presence hadn't been read as strange. He was, after all, a grown adult that was sitting alone in a park in the wee hours of the morning.
After losing his wife, he did what he could to not be perceived in his normal day-to-day life, as strange as that might have sounded for a man that was a first responder. When he was dressed head to toe in his gear though, his sense of identity became that of a firefighter, and he often had tunnel vision when it came to calls because of it. People rarely saw his face and when they did, he was always able to avoid extended eye contact by moving on to the next task. He was efficient and skilled, he followed orders and gave them where he needed to, and at the end of the day he went home.
He was literally incapable of being dismissive or brushing off this kid, though. The smile that the boy wore was contagious, it could light up the whole world.
There was just a tint of self-depreciation to his laugh when Christopher pointed out the obvious truth that Bucky did, indeed, look like he wanted a friend. Hell, he needed a friend. Actually being invited anywhere though was enough to send his pulse into frenzy with anxiety, even if his expression remained relatively even. It was only a micro-expression within his eyes that would have given it away.
Before Natasha had died, Bucky had been at least a little sociable, and that iota of intractability had been, without a doubt...because of Nat's influence. He could be stoic at times, but he still found it in himself to smile and laugh along with the rest of his team. The impact that Natasha's life had on his was beyond measure, as was the devastating effect that her death had. He had barely managed to put the pieces of his life back together, only for the cracks to make themselves known...and sometimes it all just blew up in his face again and he was left to pick the shrapnel out.
He had accepted condolences and even help, he had gone to therapy, but he hadn't done quite enough of any of that. There was only so much time that Bucky allowed to be allotted to himself and his own well-being and at some point, he had told himself to get his shit together, to focus on the family that he had left so that his grief didn't render him useless to the people that needed him. Unfortunately, the emotions that he tried to bury would claw their way out in the form of flashbacks or nightmares.
Just when he was about to take the out that the father had offered him, bringing his attention back to the man had given him pause. His lips parted slightly and his eyes just barely narrowed. He could swear he knew this guy...
When it came to him, he spoke with slight hesitance in his tone. "Hope this doesn't sound weird but I feel like we've met before. Don't suppose you were in the army, were ya?"
