stevebucky - hiraeth

11. None of Your Business

Wanda brought her hands back, her heart pounding. She looked at Vision, who seemed to have lost the ability to emote again.

She heard a noise and looked at Barnes, who was wiping his eyes. His face was flushed and streaked with tears.

"Hey," she said softly, reaching out for his arm. Barnes swatted her hand away and turned, a sob slipping from him.

"I shouldn't have come," he finally said, his voice low. He left the room, sniffling.

Wanda sighed, looking at Steve's limp form. Occasionally, he would twitch, and mutter something under his breath, or yell it. Loudly.

"That was..somehow informative and uninformative at the same time," Vision said, tilting his head with a chuckle.

"Yeah. Let's tell everyone else, shall we?" She squeezed his hand.

They went into the kitchen, where the rest of the avengers were waiting.

"We were a little worried about you," Sam said. "That was some pretty loud crying."

"I am incapable of tears," Vision smiled. Wanda's face was clearly dry.

Barnes walked in then, his face still blotchy, his eyes swollen.

No one said anything.

"So, what did you learn?" Nat asked, eyes focused on Barnes.

"He's basically in an unending nightmare." Wanda supplied.

"Yeah, but what's playing? High School Musical 2?" Tony quipped.

"Uh," Wanda glanced at Barnes, not wanted to give him away-

"He seems fixated on his love for Sergeant Barnes, and the various fears surrounding that, such as being exposed, or if either one of them ends up killing the other." Vision explained.

Barnes took in a sharp breath, his face a mask of fury, radiating pure anger. He looked ready to kill, tears slipping from his eyes. The avengers braced for what felt inevitable, but he just broke down, a whimper escaping, and walked back down the hall to Steve's room.

"Someone's blubbering," Tony said. Rhodes smacked him on the arm.

"He just went through half of an hour of his boyfriend's nightmare prison.  Cut him some slack."

"Not a boyfriend, remember?" Tony wiggled his eyebrows.

"Is there any way you could show us? With your sparklefingers, maybe?"  Scott asked.

Wanda simply shook her head, and that was when the portal opened.

                                                                                        -

Barnes leaned against the doorframe, watching Steve. He couldn't stop crying, and he hated it.  

He couldn't look away, and it was all he wanted to do.

He moved to sit on the edge of the bed and grabbed Steve's hand, still wiping his tears. 

Steve pulled away, turning over. "Give him back. Don't hurt him, please.  Don't hurt him. STOP! STOP!"

Would he have to smother him again?

"No.." Steve whimpered, whining like a puppy, water running down his face.

Bucky rubbed Steve's shoulder as he trembled. "I wish I could talk to you; I wish you could talk back. I'm sorry I left."

He heard the commotion and, with some effort, left Steve and went back to the kitchen.