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[couldntreach]

It was the quiet thrashing of restless sleep that woke Bucky from his dreams to look over to Steve's bed. They had only moved out of the orphanage a month ago, and they had been able to fit a small couch and a twin mattress into the apartment, shoved in one corner to make up their beds. Steve was taking art classes, Bucky had enrolled in one, but he wasn't there anymore, working a factory job some pretty crazy hours.

They made do, and they were surviving on their own, with their own routines, so wrapped around one another that Bucky could hold out a coffee cup without looking just as Steve walked by. They only had two. One was chipped and had to be re-glued after every other wash. The other was swiped from an office Bucky had had an interview at once. Johnson's and Sons, it said. Steve tried to get him to return it once but Bucky had made a convincing argument about the cons of one coffee cup between the pair of them. It was bad enough they only had the one spoon left.

Bucky insisted Steve take the mattress when they got them. They had an arrangement where they were supposed to swap, but Bucky made sure to complain for four days straight that the mattress hurt his back. It was better for Steve than the couch, and further from the window and the dust that got kicked up there. Steve had always tried to hide the way it made his asthma kick up.

Bucky was never fooled.

"Hey, Stev-o, wake up."

His voice was soft as he slid off the couch, his hand going to Steve's shoulder for a gentle shake. It left him kneeling over Steve to avoid accidentally shoving a knee into his ribs.

Comments

[neverdanced]

They might not have had much, but Steve was grateful for every bit of it. The apartment was small and drafty, but it was theirs. That was what mattered most, aside from them being together. Bucky was Steve's only family, and they had to stick close, especially if they wanted to survive.

Moreso Steve than Bucky. He'd learnt the hard way over the years that there weren't too many jobs available in the City what wouldn't leave him keeling over and feeling like he was going to die. That wouldn't have stopped him from trying to get a factory job, too. But there were dames who were more well equipped to handle the assembly line than he was.

Admittedly, it had been a little disheartening, but he'd recently been able to snag a library job at the university where he took his art classes. The pay was shit, but that was typical for most places during the Depression. At least he could handle this job well enough. At most, his biggest issue was book dust, but he didn't have that problem with the more frequently perused books.

Steve jumped when he felt Bucky woke him. Obviously, he hadn't been aware of how disruptive he'd been. He was just aware that it was still dark out and normally Bucky didn't wake him up unless it was something important, so there was immediately cause for alarm. "Bucky? What's going on?"

[couldntreach]

"Sorry, Steve." You were having a nightmare. "I just... I can't sleep." He gave a half-hearted shrug, laying down on the tiny mattress next to Steve and staring at the ceiling.

He didn't like to push at Steve too much with concerns. The last intention Bucky had was to make Steve feel more like Bucky was always hovering about watching his back then he already was. Much as he felt the need to be there to have Steve's back, he knew his best friend wasn't a huge fan of having to have someone else fight his battles. It was why he always hung back a little longer than he was comfortable with. He wouldn't be able to deal with it if Steve started to resent him.

He elbowed Steve lightly in the side, eyes drifting to what was probably a mold stain in their roof.

"That and you were snoring like a bear." Which was a lie and Steve would know it. Neither of them snored. When you lived in an orphanage you found out fast if you were a snorer. You woke up with a pillow on your head and a dozen angry glares.

[neverdanced]

Steve frowned in the dark. Being startled awake meant he forgot his dream, so he didn't even realise he might've been having a nightmare. He associated his racing heart with Bucky waking him up. Either way, he wasn't bothered. They were best friends, and it really wasn't uncommon for them to stay awake and talk in the dark when one of them was having a hard time sleeping.

He turned on his side to face Bucky, tucking an arm under his pillow. It was easier to talk to him this way, and it also served as an unnecessary attempt to give Bucky more space. Steve hardly took up much of the mattress as it was; there was still plenty of space even with them both on it. That might come in handy by the time winter arrived, seeing as it was unlikely that the furnace would work properly.

"I dunno about that, Buck. I was hearing some ghastly noises from near the window. Maybe your own snoring woke you up."

He wasn't above picking on his friend, either.

[couldntreach]

Bucky laughed, though it was quiet, still. He had shifted down a bit, on his side as well so they were face to face. He was fine with leading Steve on to believe it was his own problems sleeping and not Steve's that had been cause for the wake up call.

"I was thinkin... We should play hooky tomorrow. We haven't spent a day goofing off in a while. Rent's paid. We could call in sick."