For Will Graham

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[Bucky still wasn't entirely sure how it happened.

The two of them had become closer over the months in Quarantine, something about Will's way of approaching a problem from a different angle and always understanding when Bucky needed to flee had helped Bucky feel more and more comfortable with him. Somehow they had developed a friendship, and that's all it was supposed to be for either of them.

Then there was a night, a confusing night with alcohol on Will's part and terrible dreams on Bucky's, and somehow they had ended up in an embrace much more intimate than mere friendship. What they had now would be hard to define, but it was definitely something more, something that had grown into the occasional kiss and a mutual but unspoken understanding of deeper feelings.

It's late at night when Bucky shows up as he always does, unannounced and at random through a window, perching on the windowsill to look in.]

Anyone home?

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[Bucky has heard pieces of this story before, but not the meat of it, not the details. He's quiet as Will talks, though he watches him the whole time with an intensity that only grows more fierce as the tale winds on.

Is this why he felt such a connection to Will? They have both been broken down, both been tortured, until there had been nothing left of who they used to be and only the orders of someone else inside their heads. It doesn't absolve Will of his choices and his crimes, just like Bucky will never be able to wash the blood off his hands, but it does explain things.

Perhaps a little too well.

He can't forgive Will for what he's done, but he doesn't have to, it's not his place to forgive crimes that had nothing to do with him. His only choice has to be whether he can still trust him and whether he still wants to be with him, associate with him, or if this is too close to his own experience.]

Come on, let's get you inside.

[It doesn't address any of what he's just been told, but it's what comes out all the same as he offers a hand to Will. Perhaps he'll see some hope for conciliation in that gesture.]

We can talk there.

[ex_this_ismydesign36]

[ If Will were capable of it, he'd use this opportunity to help James push away from him. He believed he wasn't good for James, that his broken mind and shattered moral compass would never allow him to be the support James needed in order to find himself again.

Maybe that was alright? Will was the one who kept saying that James could never go back to who he was, but that he could live as the man he wanted to be. But Will also wasn't sure that there was a place for himself in either of those realities.

For now, however, he was exhausted, cold and obedient. He simply nodded his head and moved to gather his limbs, getting up to his feet. Will could feel the beginnings of a fever starting to work it's way just under his skin, he'd have to deal with that when he got home.

He would follow James without comment or question, whether it be back to his own home or to one of the other man's bolt holes. ]

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[He takes Will to one of his own bolt holes; it would be better for Will to be in his own space with his dog, but Bucky doesn't know if the law might be coming after him for what he did to that other man and he'd rather not paint a target on Will before he knows what to do.

So it's to one of his rare safe spaces inside the city itself, an empty apartment above a shoe store obviously just waiting to be rented or sold. There's nothing inside that indicates anyone is living there at all, except for a rolled up sleeping bag in the corner of one empty room. But it's warm, and the water runs, so it's better than other places that he's chosen.

He gets them inside, leaving the lights off, and pads quietly across the bare floorboards of the main room to sit Will down by the sleeping bag.]

...you're safe here.