Chapter Text
He couldn’t sleep.
All things considered this was not a new experience for Bob, but the living area where he was currently sitting in definitely was. The apartment Bucky organized for them in Hungary, not far from the Latverian border, was nice. Very nice actually. Not in the futuristic modern way of the Watchtower but furnished with a timeless elegance. The couch he sat in was very comfortable, as was the bed in the bedroom Yelena assigned to him. But that didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t sleep.
He thought going with Yelena and Bucky to Europe would be fun. Better than being stuck between a too loud Alexei and a mean Walker in the Watchtower. Ava was nice but she wasn’t around that much. And Yelena said it wouldn’t be dangerous. Just a little recognisance mission to see if there was any truth in the rumours about weird stuff happening in Latveria. Originally Bucky said he would go alone but Yelena had objected to that. And Bob hat objected to Yelena leaving him for more than a few days. Out of all his new friends, she was definitely the best at calming him. His mind. And his … other side. From her there was no judgement, no pity. Just compassion and understanding. Bob stood up and started pacing on the soft carpet. He simultaneously felt tired and too awake. For the thousands time he contemplated knocking on Yelena’s bedroom door. It was on his left right next to his own bedroom. Bucky’s bedroom was on the opposite side of the spacious living area. But Bob didn’t want to wake either of them. He just … his thoughts came to a halt, as did his pacing around the couch when he heard the faint clicking of a key being turned in the front door.
Then the door opened slowly, and a man entered the apartment. He was a bit shorter than Bob and wore casual but expensive looking clothes. His hair and beard were brown, just as his eyes behind the silver framed glasses. Those eyes widened as he saw Bob standing in front of the couch.
“Good evening,” the man greeted Bob while closing the door. His words were soft spoken. Quiet but with a slight raspy edge.
“What are you doing here?” Bob asked.
A hint of a smile creeped on the stranger’s face. “I did not expect anyone to be awake at this time of the night. I assume you must be Robert?”
Bob had crossed the room and pushed the stranger against the nearest wall before he even realised it himself. He just thought of Yelena and Bucky. Sleeping and unaware of an unknown person inside their apartment.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“Apologies,” the stranger murmured, “I did not mean to upset you. I’m just here to ...”
He never finished the sentence. In pushing the other man against the wall Bob had touched him. And they both got sucked into a shameful memory of the stranger.
A small room. Dark, with only some ominous red lights flashing. The stranger sat at a table, looking younger with no beard, speaking to a man with messy long hair in some sort of glass cage. “Why don’t we discuss your home?” the stranger asked. “Not Rumania. Certainly not Brooklyn. No.” He pulled a small red book out of the bag next to him on the table. “I mean your real home.” The stranger took off the pair of glasses he had been wearing and turned on a small flashlight. Then he stood up and started reading weird sounding words from the small red book. All the while the man in the glass cage begged him to stop. Before trying his best to break free of his confinement.
Bob came back to himself with his right hand on the stranger’s throat. “Why did you hurt Bucky?” he snarled.
Bucky had seen a lot of weird shit in his life, but he never expected to see Bob holding Zemo against a wall. Because Bob was usually not a fan of violence and Zemo rarely let himself be pushed around.
“Bob, it’s alright,” Bucky said while crossing the living area.
Two sets of eyes looked at him. One pair brown and calculating. One pair blue and confused.
“But he hurt you,” Bob said quietly.
“That was a long time ago. Please let him go.”
Bob looked back at Zemo. Obviously confused of why he was holding the other man against the wall. His arm dropped down, and he took a step back.
“Well, this is not the sort of welcome I expected,” Zemo said, looking from Bob to Bucky. Zemo’s gaze was not amused as Bucky would have expected. He looked vulnerable and apologetic. Then Bucky remembered the question Bob asked him. One did not need to be a genius to come up with a scenario that Bob could have seen where Bucky got hurt and that Zemo would find shameful these days.
“Bob, this is Zemo. He’s a friend.”
“Are you serious?” Yelena asked from across the room.
The three men turned to see her coming out of her bedroom wearing comfortable sweatpants and a hoodie.
“What do you mean?” Bob asked back, obviously immediately feeling guilty.
“Not you. Him. Why would you of all people call Baron Zemo a friend, Bucky?”
Bucky did not get to respond to the question because Zemo decided to answer for him.
“Well, as you all currently reside in one of my properties, I think it would be fitting to call me a friend to all of you.”
Yelena’s eyebrows rose even higher. “What the hell, Barnes?”
“He got pardoned on the condition to aid the authorities when needed, remember?” Bucky said, shooting Zemo a quick glance. Then he glanced back at Yelena, who now looked more annoyed than surprised.
“You could have rented us an Airbnb or asked Valentina to get us into a CIA safehouse. Like any sane person would have done.”
“So, is he a friend or not?” Bob asked looking between Yelena and Bucky like a lost puppy.
“He is.”
“He’s not.”
“If I may?” Zemo interrupted the staring contest between Yelena and Bucky. “I can assure you, Miss Belova, that I am no threat to any of you.”
Yelena snorted. “Yeah, sure. Totally believable. That’s why you are trying to sneak in here in the middle of the night.”
Zemo caught Bucky’s gaze and slightly lifted one of his eyebrows in a silent question.
Shit. He was thinking of telling Yelena the truth.
“I asked him to come here” Bucky lied. “He has been to Latveria before.” At least the last part was true.
“I arrived here earlier than expected” Zemo continued Bucky’s lie effortlessly.
Yelena eyed them both suspiciously. “What game are you playing, Barnes?”
This was the second time she decided to use his last name. Bucky knew he was in trouble. The unexpected save came from Bob.
“Could you please not fight?” he requested quietly.
Yelena’s expression softened in an instant. “We are not fighting. Bucky is just insisting on being stupid.” She held her hand out and Bob came to her immediately. Then she shot Bucky one last glare. “We are talking about this in the morning.”
“Sure,” Bucky agreed.
Yelena and Bob vanished into her bedroom leaving Zemo and Bucky alone in the living area.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Bucky whispered angrily. Last thing he needed was an even more suspicious Yelena overhearing an argument. “I told you; I wasn’t coming alone.”
“To be fair, James, it is the middle of the night, and you did not tell me that your new friend sleeps even less than you.”
A deep sigh left Bucky’s lips and then he turned to his bedroom. He didn’t look back because he knew Zemo would follow him.
When Zemo followed Bucky into the master bedroom, he thought of how differently he had expected this night to go. It was definitely an oversight on his part to not expect anyone else to be awake during the early morning hours. He was getting sloppy.
“Do you wish to keep up the lie you told your friends?” Zemo asked after closing the door quietly behind himself.
Bucky sighs as he sat down on the bed. “Well what else am I supposed to do?”
“The truth is always an option.”
“And that coming from you.”
“You hurt me, James. I rarely lie.”
Bucky frowned a bit, thinking about Zemo’s response. “You’re right,” he finally admitted. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Zemo said, sitting down next to Bucky. “It is unsurprising that you would assume that.”
They were both quiet for some time, until Bucky finally broke the silence. “Why are you here?”
A sad smile manifested on Zemo’s lips. “Do you find it so hard to believe that I wished to see you?”
Bucky only blinked at him.
Zemo cursed himself. Being reminded of what he had done to the man beside him really did a number on his wits.
“I can leave,” Zemo offered.
“Why would you? This is your apartment. And your bedroom I assume.”
“Yes, but I don’t wish to make you uncomfortable, James.”
“You’re not … I’m …” Bucky closed his mouth again and looked frustrated with himself.
Zemo waited patiently though he would have preferred a lot of things over this unnerving silence.
“All of this was so much easier when I disliked you,” Bucky eventually murmured.
“When were our lives ever easy?” Zemo retorted. But he could not help but smile at the implication of Bucky’s statement.
Bucky gave a small nod in agreement but did not say anything else.
While Zemo usually credited himself with being a patient man, in this situation he felt like some things just needed to be said out lout for once.
“I know that we never talked about what this thing between us is,” he said and immediately garnered Bucky’s full attention. “But while I can understand why it is difficult for you to trust me, I can assure you that you’ve more than earned my trust. And while I thoroughly enjoyed any tumble we had between the sheets, it is only a small part of why I keep seeking you out.”
“A small part?” Bucky asked with a cheeky grin.
Zemo playfully winked at him. “Well maybe not that small.”
Bucky’s smirk got replaced by a more serious expression. “It might actually be one of my problems, you know? The trust part. Because I know I shouldn’t, but I do trust you, Helmut.”
Now it was Zemo‘s turn to look surprised. He was very sure that this was the first time that Bucky addressed him with his first name. “But not enough to tell your friends the truth.”
Bucky looked conflicted and Zemo almost started to apologise. Almost.
“You saw Yelena’s reaction,” Bucky murmured. “They wouldn’t understand.”
“They might surprise you if you explained it to them.”
Bucky snorted. “Yeah? And what should I explain? That we started fucking after you offered me yourself as an apology for using me for your schemes?”
“Well, the apology was mainly for making you relinquish your well fought for autonomy in order to trick Selby. We should be exact with those details.”
“I don’t think they would want to hear any details about that.”
“Touché.”
Yelena manoeuvred Bob into her bedroom and closed the door behind him.
“Baron Zemo, a friend,” she said more to herself than to Bob while shaking her head.
“Who is he?”
“Sokovian Royalty, ex-Military and also the reason why the Avengers split up all those years ago. Oh, and he framed Bucky for a terrorist attack, used the Winter Soldier programming against him, and tried to kill all Super Soldiers.”
Bob stared at her quietly for a moment after she finished that list.
“So why does Bucky call him his friend?” he asked eventually.
Excellent question, Yelena thought. “I have absolutely no idea. But I will find that out tomorrow.”
Bob nodded, then looked to the bed and back to her. “So… shall I go back to my room now?”
“You were out there because you couldn’t sleep?”
She got another nod as an answer.
“Do you want to sleep here?”
“I … maybe?”
She smiled at him. “I told you before, you can ask for things.”
“I didn’t want to wake you up,” he murmured.
“Come on, let’s go to bed. I’m tired and I have an important interrogation in the morning.”
She climbed back in the bed and gestured to Bob to lie down next to her. Knowing that Baron Zemo owned the apartment explained the king-size beds and the super soft sheets. One could judge his decisions in all other regards, but the man did know who to live with style and comfort.
“Thanks Yelena,” Bob said quietly as he lay down.
She gave his hand a quick squeeze and then turned off the light. Listening to Bobs breathing evening out also lulled her into a deep slumber.