pov steve~

Abruptly, I awoke from my sleep.

The first thing I did was check the time, and it was 2:47 in the morning, clearly still completely dark outside. I decided that getting out of bed and doing something for a short while would be a better idea than simply laying restlessly in bed.

Quietly, so as not to wake Bucky, who was still sharing a room with me, I crept from the room and closed the door as silently as I could.

Once I was out, I headed towards the kitchen to maybe eat or drink something sleep inducing. I wasn't sure what would help, so I looked through the drawers until I found some tea. Mint tea, I noticed, was naturally caffeine free, so I grabbed one packet and placed it on the counter.

I decided against using sugar, since that might prove to be counterproductive, then I started to boil some water in a kettle that I found in a nearby cabinet.

As I waited, I genuinely wondered who here drank tea, since I'd never actually seen it for myself. I assumed it was probably Natasha.

Soon, the kettle started steaming and making a low whistling sound, so I turned off the stovetop and poured the liquid into a mug with the teabag in it.

"Can't sleep?" I heard a voice behind me.

Once the hot water had finished pouring, I placed the kettle down on a counter-protector and turned around. "Yea, I'm not really tired. I figured I'd make some tea," I answered, seeing that it was Bucky.

"Sounds good," he replied.

"Did you want some?"

"No I- it's alright, thank you," he said, seeming flustered as he approached me.

"Did I wake you up?" I really wanted to know.

"No, I was already awake when you left," he admitted. "I wasn't sure I wanted to get up though until a few minutes after."

"Oh good, alright," I said. "Why were you up?"

He shrugged. "I think it's a side effect of the new memory reconstructing therapy Shuri's got me in, because I'm super tired but I just can't fall asleep."

"That's terrible," I made a face, picking up my now-cooled-down tea and taking a sip. "I'm sorry you have to go through that."

"I'm not," he told me. "I think it's going well enough for this temporary struggle to be worth it."

"Are you remembering things?" I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Some things, some recent things like HYDRA things," he detailed. "Tony surmises that it's going to take a while before I recall everything, but that's already less time than the last method we tried."

"That's great news," I smiled at him, continuing to drink my tea.

He smiled back, but never said anything, his eyes remaining on mine for a few seconds before lingering down on my lips and wandering mysteriously about my face and, interestingly enough, my body.

I finished my drink and placed the cup in the sink to be washed tomorrow. "Alright," I spoke seeing as he wasn't going to do so.

"Ready to try sleeping again?" he smiled sideways at me.

"Yea, that tea really did the trick," I confessed. "You should maybe try it sometime, it might help you."

We started walking towards the bedroom. "Maybe I will, next time."