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You were standing in front of your friends with your new boyfriend by your side, beaming at the way they were getting on with him.
That was until Bucky chimed in, "so, Daniel was it?"
Derek smiles, "Derek."
"Derek, right...so what is it that you do for a living?", Bucky asks.
"I'm a teacher."
Bucky nods his head condescendingly, "ah so you couldn't find a job in the field you majored in and thought teaching was the next best thing? Happens to a lot I've heard."
You shoot Bucky a death glare, "Bucky", you say his name through clenched teeth as you note the disapproving look Steve also throws Bucky.
Derek lays a hand on your arm, "it's quite alright, that does happen, but I always knew I wanted to teach."
Bucky rolls his eyes, "you got brothers?"
"Two sisters."
Bucky frowns, "have you ever been in a fight?"
You turn Derek away from everyone, "okay, that's enough of that, I know you have a meeting to get to, so I'll show you to the elevators and I'll see you later for dinner."
Once you say goodbye to Derek you come back to the kitchen with a murderous rage and head straight to Bucky. You shove him, hard, "what the fuck was that, Barnes?"
Bucky folds his arms across his chest, "I was just getting to know your new boy toy."
"Boyfriend," you reply in a deadly tone.
"Whatever, darlin'", Bucky throws over his shoulder as he exits the kitchen.
But you don't let him get away that easily as you follow close behind, "is this because you're fucking jealous?"
Bucky barks out a laugh as he pushes the button to the elevator. He steps in and turns to face you, "of Derek? We both know I have nothing to be jealous of there."
The doors start to close but you stick your arm through them and step into the small space with him. The doors close as you jab a finger into his chest, "you're certainly acting like someone who's jealous which is ironic considering you're the one that didn't want me!"
The elevator starts to move. Bucky turns to you with a frown, "is that what you think?"
"Gee, I don't know Buck, after I told you I loved you, you bailed on a mission for the next six months!", you shout the last two words at him.
"Yeah, it was a fucking mission! What did you want me to do? Not go and save lives?", Bucky shouts right back at you.
"Of course not, but we both know you only took that mission because you couldn't face-"
The elevator whirs and then jerks violently, causing you to stumble into Bucky as he falls back into the wall. He catches you with his hands holding your upper arms. As the light switches to a red he asks, "are you okay?"
You look up into his face and find nothing but concern replacing the anger from a few moments ago. It causes your stomach to flip as you nod your head to his question.
You watch Bucky's eyes study you, his mouth open, ready to say something else when a crackle rings out, followed by Steve's voice, "elevator is down, we're working on getting it going again, hang tight."
Bucky lets you go, the momentary spell broken. You slide down the opposite wall to Bucky, until you hit the floor. You cross your legs and lean your head back against the cool metal of the wall.
"Looks like we'll be here for a while", you say as Bucky also slides down the wall, stretching his legs out, careful to avoid you.
"You'll probably miss dinner with dashing Derek", Bucky uses a mocking tone.
You sigh, "I've moved on Buck, you should too."
Bucky looks at you sharply, "is that what this is?"
You frown, "what else would it even be? You were gone for six months, tell me what else I was supposed to do?"
Bucky stands again, rage pouring from every muscle, "I didn't think you were going to 'move on'", he uses air quotations to emphasis the words you just used.
You stand to meet him, "you thought I would wait? For six months? After I declared my feelings for you, and you said jack shit? What is the matter with you?"
"Some feelings they were, if you've already 'moved on'", Bucky uses the air quotations again.
"Stop that", you say as you swat at his hands.
"You're avoiding what I'm saying."
"I was heartbroken when you left Bucky-"
He cuts you off with a scoff, "so heartbroken you went running into the arms of dashing Derek."
"Call him that one more time-"
"What are you gonna do, Princess?", Bucky raises his chin in challenge.
You clench your hands into fists, wanting to launch yourself at him. Instead you turn away from him and count to ten before turning back, "what do you even care? It's not like you felt the same!".
Your words ring around in the small metal box. The silence stretches as you watch Bucky's mouth open and shut like a goldfish. You turn away from him again, hating the nothingness that confirms he never felt the same way.
You wrap your arms around yourself when you finally hear Bucky whisper, "I never said I didn't feel the same way."
It takes you a moment. You process the words as your heart beats louder in your ears. You turn slowly, "what?"
Bucky looks down at the floor, "we were only supposed to be blowing off steam together. Sex, that's all it was supposed to be, we agreed. And that's what it was...for a while. But I knew I was starting to fall for you. How could I not? You kick ass but care about everyone around you. You have a wicked sense of humour and you swear like a sailor."
Bucky looks back up at you, searching your face before continuing, "I loved you before you ever said the words to me but I had convinced myself that you could never feel the same, so when you said them I...I ran. I didn't know how to even begin letting myself be loved by someone like you. I was scared. I tried to run from it, hoping that with enough distance I could stop. Stop loving you so much, but I realised that I didn't want to live without you, and it hit me like a tonne of bricks and so I came back. I came back to tell you-to-...but it was already too late."
You stare at each other, the air thick with tension. You take a step forward, bringing you so close to Bucky that you could feel his slightly haggard breathing, "tell me what? You came back to tell me what?"
"That I love you. I love you, Y/N"
You forget how to breathe. Your brain short circuits at hearing the words you never thought you would hear from a man you could never 'move on' from.
Before you can start thinking properly again you reach on your toes and kiss Bucky with everything that you have. He returns the kiss immediately, his hands coming to your face as your tongues meet once again.
As you both kiss you never notice the elevator moving again until you hear the 'ding' of the doors opening to reveal everyone cheering and clapping at you and Bucky kissing.
You break apart to watch them with stunned expressions as Nat shouts, "it's about goddamn time."
You look back at Bucky as he does the same. You both smile, meeting for another kiss as the others cheer again, until the elevator doors close once again.
