A Tale of Mischief and Mutants part 2

Pit Stop

—-Sam Wilson—-

"Okay that's it!"

Steve pulls over.

"Both of you out of the car now!"

'Shit.' 'We really screwed up this time didn't we?' It's not even an hour into the trip and Steve is at his wits end with Bucky and I arguing. Bucky and I begrudgingly follow as Steve steps out of the car.

"I'm so sick of you two doing this all the time! When I'm not stuck in a car with you it's tolerable but I cannot sit here and listen to you bicker any more! We're not going any further until you two hash things out! Either punch each other and be done or talk it out I don't care which. I'll be in the car, don't come back to the car unless you're done."

He gets back in slamming the car door and locking it so we're now stranded on the side of the road unless we figure this out. Bucky looks me up and down.

"How do we want to do this?"

"Seeing as you have the serum I'd rather talk this out."

He nods slightly as we move to sit down on the curbside.

"Ok if we're going to figure this out let's set some rules for this conversation, no poking fun at each other until it's over, we have to be honest about everything we say, and for the love of God no staring contests."

"Don't even start with me about that, you're the one always staring."

I stop myself before this escalates into another argument.

"But yeah you're right those sound like good rules. ...Why do you do that anyway?"

"The staring?"

I nod

"Well... Sometimes I just get stuck in old memories... I don't mean to instigate anything but then you push me when I'm in that headspace... I'm already not in a great mood due to the memories."

I had never thought about the fact that his aggression could have nothing to do with him having a problem with me in particular. I start to think about how insensitive I've come off to him about his past over the years. I always turned things into a joke with him, teasing him about his 'cyborg brain' and his assassin skills. I should've been more clear that I actually cared about what happened.

"...I'm sorry I didn't mean to push you. Do you want me to just back off when that happens?"

"It's ok if you want to talk to me... just don't treat it like a joke..."

"I didn't know that was why, I never would've given you grief about it if I had known."

He smiles slightly.

"Well to be fair I haven't been the best at clueing you in on what's going on in this cyborg brain of mine."

"Yeah... I'm sorry about all that too, I never thought about how much it could hurt for me to say that kind of shit calling you an assassin or brining up how you were under Hydra's control... I've been kind of an idiot."

"Eh I've kinda appreciated that a little to be honest."

I give him a confused look and he elaborates.

"Even when everyone else was scared of me and interacted with me as if they were walking on eggshells you were always there unafraid to push my buttons... even Steve was afraid to push me for a while. I know he was just doing his best to be a good friend but he was always so careful about what he said to me during that first year and a half and he never used to be that way. Anyway, I appreciated someone who didn't treat me like I was... fragile. It just gets annoying and it can come off a little douchey sometimes now."

I smile I never knew any of that.

"I'm sorry look Bucky I know I've given you a really hard time and I feel like you deserve to know why. ...it's because when you showed up I guess I felt threatened... I mean Steve was my friend but then you come along seemingly raised from the dead and I was afraid he wouldn't see any reason to keep me around if he had you... I've been immature."

"You're right that is immature, and stupid, you know you're like a brother to him right? We both are. He thinks the world of you. I'm not here to replace you just like he didn't make friends with you to replace me. Like it or not we're in this together now and I think it's time we stopped ragging on each other all the time. I'm not saying I'm not going to give you shit about stuff but we've been butting heads for far too long and we need to stop before one of us gets a migraine."

I nod in agreement smiling at what he's said. The guy might not be so intolerable after all. He smiles slightly and we silently stand up and walk over to the car. Steve smiles at both of us as Bucky taps on the glass of his window. He unlocks the car doors and we get in... I move my seat up as I settle in for the rest of the ride