Electric / Steve Rogers x OC x Bucky Barnes ✓

Chapter 106: Let's Talk

MADELINE

Bucky grabs me a towel and I move out of his embrace, wrapping myself in it. 

I sigh, "Alright, let's talk then. Although my head is still pounding." The bath helped but as soon as Bucky brought up all that stuff, it quickly returned. 

Bucky nods, "Okay." He pulls me in for a kiss and I deepen it instinctively. I'm not ready to do this. I'm scared of the outcome. 

We both go back to the bedroom and Steve is awake. He probably woke up when he heard Bucky and I. 

He scans my face, "What's going on?"

"We need to talk." Bucky replies and I glance at him. I move to my dresser, getting sweatpants and a t-shirt, and quickly change. 

I sit down on the bed and Bucky does the same. Steve sits up and leans against the headboard. 

"Okay," Steve says hesitantly, "Let's talk then." 

I glance between the both of them, "It's clear now that we need to make some ground rules about this whole situation." 

Bucky looks at Steve who meets his eyes. 

"How do you feel, pal?" Bucky asks him quietly. 

Steve sighs, "You know how I feel." 

Bucky narrows his eyes at him, "That's not going to work for me." 

"I'm aware, Buck," Steve replies, annoyed. "But it's how I feel right now." 

"So, what, I can't ever be with her without you?" Bucky asks him, clearly irritated. 

Steve glares at him, "If you need to, then it has to go both ways. Then we have to come up with some kind of system. I want her to myself too, Buck. Do you not get that?" 

Bucky scoffs, "Of course I get that, but I never said you couldn't." 

"No,  but I know Madeline prefers for the both of us to be around her. So I've been thinking about her needs above my own. You only thought about your needs." 

Bucky laughs mockingly, "Oh, wow, really? What the hell do you want me to say, Steve? Yes, I want her to myself and I wish we weren't in this situation, but here we are. And I've been going with the flow because I know she loves you the most and this is the only way I'll get to be with her." 

My heart hurts as he speaks and I glance down quickly. To be honest, I might have loved Steve more at the beginning of this. But the more time I spend with Bucky,  showing me the different sides to him, the more that love balances out. At this point I know I won't be able to give up either of them. 

Steve sighs again, "I know Buck. It's not like that. But you need to understand that this is hard for me, too. I fell in love with a girl. It's not my fault she fell in love with you too." He glances at me and I look up to meet his eyes. After looking at him for a second, I feel guilty and drop my eyes back down to my hands. 

Steve turns his gaze on Bucky and the two of them just look at each other in silence, for a while. 

I sigh deeply, putting my head in my hands. What the hell was I thinking, getting into this mess? 

I plop myself back on the bed, my head hitting the pillow. I hear them talking but the sound is muffled as I tune them out in my head. 

I can't deal with this right now. It's all too much. I'm not ready to do this. I'm not ready to let either of them go. I don't know if I ever will be. 

I remove my hands from my face and stare at the ceiling. I can still hear them faintly talking but I don't listen. It doesn't matter what they're saying, anyway. Either they will come to an agreement or not. It's really not any of my business and I can't push either of them to make a decision.