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[That's awkward, he doesn't really know what to do with her gratitude, because he's fairly sure she's half thanking a Bucky that no longer exists.

He shifts a little, small frown starting.]

Are you drunk?

Uh--

Yeah.

[Is there a point in trying to hide it? She could still walk, so she can't be that drunk. So what if it's not exactly in a straight line?]

S'been a really bad day.

[For everyone, most likely. Hell, she saw how much it shook him up.]

[He shifts minutely, but he can't exactly leave her to walk home alone and drunk, no matter how intensely awkward this is, so he moves a few steps closer and falls in beside her.]

I'm getting the idea that not a lot of days are good ones here.

[Just a hunch.]

C'mon... I'll take you home.

[There used to be.

Daisy almost says that out loud before she stops herself. especially when most of those good days around here involved him.]

You don't have to do that.

[Even though there's a part of her that wants him close to her, feeling that need to protect him, she knows he's capable of protecting himself.]

I know that.

[His tone is mild, and he doesn't make any sort of move to walk away. He doesn't have to, but he said that he would, and so he will.]

Ain't like I have someplace to be.

Okay.

[She has to stop herself from reaching for his hand, and instead stuffs her hands inside the back pocket of her jeans as she trips over her feet but manages to balance herself out.]

I don't usually get this bad.

[And that sentence was barely English. Daisy leads them in the direction of their house, which wasn't very far from where they were right now.]

[He's not entirely sure if he's supposed to ask why she's that bad tonight, or if that would be an invasion of privacy. He wouldn't want people prodding into his weak moments, so he comes down on the side of not wanting to make a bad day worse by asking.]

You'll sleep it off, and tomorrow might be better.

[He doesn't necessarily believe that, but he has no idea what else to say in this situation.]

Yeah.

[Daisy wants to believe that tomorrow will be better, but she hasn’t had a ‘good’ day since coming back here. When she’s not thinking about who and what she lost back home, she’s thinking about what she lost here. She’s alone, and as much as she believes she’s better off that way, she really isn’t.

Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Daisy turns the corner to the street she lives on.]

You want to come in?

[She asks it casually, as if his response wouldn’t bother her either way. Grabbing onto the railing, Daisy clings to it for dear life as she makes her way up the few steps to her front door.]

I have more alcohol inside.

[~~Okay, so maybe she’s bribing him with booze. Sue her. She’s just not ready to be alone yet.~~]

I don't drink.

[It's not a refusal to come inside, though neither is it him accepting her invitation. He wonders if she knows about the serum, about why he doesn't drink. There's not a whole lot of point when booze won't affect you in any way, it sure as hell doesn't taste good enough to drink it on that alone.]

And I'm not sure you should have any more either.

[Not if she's struggling to even stand.]

[As he answers, Daisy fumbles to get her keys out of her pocket. Hissing as a shooting pain runs up her arm, she drops the keys on the poorly lit front porch.]

Shit.

[Bending down, Daisy blindly moves her hand around to feel for them.]

There’s left over pizza, s’good still.

[Oh.

It takes him a second to get it, to realise that she doesn't want to be alone. It's intensely awkward, partly because he's not great at this sort of thing, and partly because he's fairly sure that she just wants him around because she reminds him of the other Bucky.

But he is trying to be a better guy, and he'd be a real heel if he just walked away from a drunk woman when she needs help.

He sighs.]

Yeah, some pizza sounds good.

[Using the flashlight from her phone, Daisy finally spots her key.]

Cool.

[Yeah, just keep playing it casual. It takes a few tries for Daisy to successfully get her key in the lock, and in all honesty she thought about just using her power to blast the door open.

One less thing to repair.

Speaking of repairs, there’s a giant hole in her ceiling. Which Bucky might notice when she finally turns the light on in the living room.]

I’m redecorating.

[More like someone fell through her ceiling. No biggie.]

I’ll go get that pizza, if you want to sit down.

[Maybe she should be the one sitting down considering how heavily she’s leaning against the wall.]

[He doesn't offer to help her with the door even when she's struggling, she's not a child and he's not about to baby her, he just waits patiently until they can both walk in. He's not been inside before, always electing to stay outside or leave when the invitation is given, but even so he's fairly sure the hole isn't something that's usually there.

Not that it surprises him.

He's seen the dents these animals and people make in the buildings, it makes sense that some of them would have fallen on residential spaces. She's still walking and talking, so she clearly wasn't crushed, that's what's important.]

Pretty sure you should let me get it.

[Given he's not about to fall over.]

Sit down.

No. You’re the hos-guest. You’re the guest, I’m the host.

[Maybe that last shot was a mistake...

Pushing off the wall, Daisy tosses her keys haphazardly in the direction of the table as she enters the kitchen.

What was she in here for? Oh, right, the pizza.]

Y’want it heated up?

I said sit down.

[It's a little sharper than before, but that's mostly because he really doesn't want to follow her around the house as she stumbles her way through trying to make him at home.]

I'm not here to be a guest, I'm here because you're drunk. So sit down, I'll get you the pizza and a glass of water, and then you go and sleep this off.

[Daisy is almost at the fridge when he demands that she sits down.]

Okay, jeeze.

[Daisy reaches behind her in the general direction for one of the dining room chairs. Hand finding purchase on the back of one of them, she pulls it out and—-

Her ass hits the ground, still gripping the chair that is now on its side next to her.]

[Really?

He watches her hit the ground with raised eyebrows, before coming over to offer her a hand.]

You really are drunk, huh?

[Daisy almost brushes him off when he offers her a hand up, but there’s no way she was getting off the floor otherwise.]

Bad day.

[And too many drinks.

Grabbing hold of his hand, she lets him help her up off the floor. Daisy holds onto him, waiting for the room to stop spinning.]

Do you—?

[That train of thought went out the window.]

Can I get that water?

Yeah.

[His grip on her hand is gentler than it needs to be, and he makes sure she's actually sat in the chair before he lets go of her.

He's silent as he fills her a glass of water, at least it's not hard to find things in the kitchen, and brings it back. But it's the second time she's mentioned her day, so-- perhaps she had wanted to talk about it?]

What happened?

[The question is quiet and mild, giving her as much chance as possible to refuse to answer if she doesn't want.]

[She misses this, misses him. Which makes it hard to let go of his hand when he pulls his away, but she does.

Leaning heavily into the chair, Daisy closes her eyes in both an attempt to reign in her emotions, and to also stop from feeling so whoozy.]

I couldn’t save them.

[Opening her eyes, Daisy looks up at him with tears in her eyes.]

I don’t know what—

My powers stopped working, and I couldn’t save them.

[He knows what that's like.

The first person that fell in front of him, he tried to catch in a futile attempt to save them. But a metal arm doesn't make a great landing area for someone already plummeting at a high speed.]

I'm sorry.

[That's genuine, at least.]

You saved one, I saw it. One is still a victory.

I could have saved more.

[She still doesn’t understand why her powers stopped working so suddenly, but if it could happen once it could easily happen again.

Without making eye contact with him again, Daisy takes the glass of water from him.]

I should’ve saved more.

You would have if you could.

[He's sure of that. The way this is hitting her is proof of it, even if she hadn't shown herself to be kind before now.]

That's all you can do. Try. It ain't your fault that it didn't work out this time.

[Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from crying, Daisy looks towards the ceiling as if that’ll keep the tears at bay.]

This place keeps punishing me.

[At least she was being productive with her grief/guilt back home.]

I deserve it.

Edited 2021-03-13 09:04 (UTC)

Now you're just being stupid.

[Sympathy dissipates a little in the face of such blatant self derision, and his tone is unamused to match.]

You're trying to help people, not your fault that it doesn't always work out.

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