B U C H A R E S T, R O M A N I A

May 23rd, 2016

"This is the last time I make you breakfast."

I warn Bucky as I leave his scrambled eggs on the small dinning table. He's still laying in bed. Well, it's not exactly a bed but just a mattress on the hard floor. I can see him smirk from the kitchen, which isn't hard since the apartment is so reduced in size. In fact, our bedroom, kitchen and living room are inside the same four walls.

It isn't the best place to live. The apartment is small, it easily gets dirty and we don't actually get much natural light from the windows because we've covered them with newspapers. But none of that matters. This is a hideout and, so far, it has done its job. In two years, nobody has found us and we've been able to go on with our lives.

"Sorry." Bucky finally gets up, wearing nothing but his underwear. I yawn, even if I've woken up later than usual, I'm still tired. After all, I did stay at work until later than usual. "Was the clinic busy yesterday?"

"Hell yeah." I tell him after my yawn's faded. I've been working as a nurse in a local free clinic. It pays the bills and I actually like it. I did study nursing, all in all. I may not remember what I did under HYDRA's orders, but I haven't forgotten what I learned in college. "I caught a glimpse of the TV, though. They're holding a UN meeting in Vienna today because of the Lagos incident."

The Avengers were everywhere. The group of superheroes were known all around the world. We only followed any news on them because of one of the members: the Captain.

However, the popular opinion wasn't on their side, lately. While on a mission in Lagos, the heroes caused more harm that good. Now the higher institutions were going to step in.

Bucky dodges the subject. "Did you understand what they were saying?"

"Some words." I answer him anyways. During the past couple of years I discovered that I have a lot of muscle memory. HYDRA taught me how to fight and my muscles remember the moves. They also taught me how to speak in 30 languages. I only need to hear a few lines to refresh my knowledge. With all, I still had a hard time with Romanian, what I thought was really ironic. I'm sure I can understand the official languages in most of the European countries, but it is just the one where I leave that I can't speak. "But I understood most of it thanks to the images."

"I still don't remember him." Bucky finally says. The smirk he previously had has faded from his face. He's been trying really hard to recall his all life, just as much as I have to find more about mine.

"One step at a time."

"You always say that."

I frown my eyebrows at him. "What's wrong with that?"

He walks around the table and makes his way next to me. He wastes no time before pulling me into a kiss. Every time we kiss, we follow the same routine.

Usually, he's the one who starts it and at first, I play along. But then I come back to my senses and tell him all the reasons why we shouldn't encourage it.

Of course, there have also been times when I didn't come back to my senses and the kiss has turned into something more explicit. I'm only human, I can't help but give in sometimes.

"No, Bucky..." 

This isn't one of those times, though.

"I know." Bucky says against my lips. I pull farther apart, but our bodies are still pressed against each others. "But I just-"

"As much as I want this too," I cut him off before he can start. I already know he's going to insist on labeling the nature of our relationship. I can't blame him. We've been like this for two years and each time it gets harder for me. My sentiments towards him grow every day we spend together but I'm afraid of revealing my true feelings because I'm pretty sure they are reciprocal. I decided to go with him two years ago because I had nothing else to lose. I just want to keep it that way. "This isn't gonna work."

"I think we can make it work."

"You always say that."

Bucky chuckles but quickly goes back to a serious expression. Without pulling away, he places a wild piece of my hair behind my ear. I weaken when his fingers touch my skin. Before I know it, we're kissing again.I've told him a million times, but know I have to tell myself that this is not right. We're living in Bucharest, thousands of miles away from our true homes. We're running from the law. We're hiding in a shitty apartment and we've just been lucky that nobody has found us. What we have isn't a second chance. This isn't a do-over.

"We can't, Bucky." My voice is a whisper. "We can't..."

He's not giving up, though. "We already live together. We sleep in the same bed. Wake up to each other. Eat with each other-"

"I know the last time you were with a girl was in the 1940s and in those times we'd be the definition of a married couple." I start. "But we're not in that situation. We're fugitives. Someone could find us anytime soon and burst our bubble." I say could but I actually meant will. I'm positive this isn't gonna last. It's only a matter of time before our bubble bursts.

"C'mon, get dressed." I add, walking away from him and ending the foregoing conversation. "We need to go to the market. We ran out of plums."

. . .

"Those don't look too good." I point at the plums in front of us. The street market is pretty busy today. I need to keep my arm wrapped around Bucky's so that people don't push us away. I'd be a bore to find our way back to each other if we got lost in the crowd.

"I'm sure they are." Bucky grabs a pair of the dark fruits and feels them. He then gets them into a bag and pays the man in the stand.  "Mulțumesc." Thank you. He says in Romanian. 

"Do we need anything else?" He asks as I take the bag from his hands and we start walking again. A careless man walks past me and bumps into my shoulder, making me swing back. I have to tug tighter into Bucky's metal arm so I don't 

"I don't think so..." I reply to Bucky, peering at the man who just slammed into me and didn't even apologize. As I have my head slightly turned, I catch a glimpse of another man sitting in a newsstand across the street. He's staring in our direction with wide eyes. I wait a few seconds to see if he looks away, but he doesn't. "Buck?"

"What?"

"That man's looking at us."

I nod my head towards the newsstand and as soon as Buck looks in his direction, the man appears to get nervous. 

"He's not looking at us." Bucky takes my hand to make me follow him. "He's looking at me."

We walk closer to the newsstand but before we can reach it, the man has set off running. I grab the newspaper he was reading once we arrive there and I'm paralyzed by the headline on the front page. 

"Oh my God..."

The bold letters state that the Winter Soldier - that is, Bucky - was the one who bombed the UN a few days ago. There's even a presumed picture of him in a parking lot near the UN offices in Viena. I look at him with my eyes wide open. He hasn't done it. We haven't moved from Bucharest. They identified the wrong man and I know for sure that they are going to come for him. We're no longer safe here. We're not safe anywhere. Our bubble has been burst. 

"Let's go, we need to get our things." Bucky seems to read my mind. He leaves the newspaper on the stand and takes me by the arm as we start moving. "We're leaving."