The Ex And The Soulmate

But it's true.

We were on the jet, not Bucky refused to let go of my hand so we sat together. Tony on my right and Captain America, who was insisting I call him Steve, was on not Bucky's left.

"You... call him Bucky?"

Steve nodded. "His name is James Buchanan Barnes. But I always called him Bucky."

"Oh."

"What I don't understand is why you were there, Candace. What happened?" Tony interrupted.

I sighed. "They thought I was your girlfriend."

"Yeah, that seems to be popular opinion." He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

I tilted my head, confused. "What?"

"Not important." Steve answered. "We need to know everything, can you tell us?"

I explained everything. The man at the bar, the bartender saving me, it being pointless in the end. The man with the fake accent, down to meeting Bucky.

"родственная душа." He spoke for the first time since we got on the jet.

"Yeah." I smiled softly at him, his hand still in mine. "So, that's everything."

"Did it hurt?" Tony stared at my shoulder. He gave me a tank top to change into, my scar was now visible to everyone.

Bucky flinched when Tony asked about the scarring. I could already tell he felt guilt for it. I shrugged. "Not awful." I doubt I was believable at all but I tried.

"Did you..." I cleared my throat, turning to Tony, trying to force myself to ask the question I didn't want to know the answer to. "Did you find your soulmate?"

"It was platonic." Tony stared at the drink in his hand. Platonic soulmates were pretty rare, one in fifty chance. Every person either ends up alone, or look for someone else with a platonic soulmate. There were dating apps dedicated to it. No point in dating anyone else, you'd just be holding them back from their soulmate.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Tony shrugged. "Don't have time for it anyway. Too busy saving the world." He flashed the smile I knew all too well, the one hiding all of the pain he acted like he didn't have.

I nodded, everything felt like I was teetering on the line of reality. I was overwhelmed. I needed to rest. "How long of a trip do we have?"

"A few hours." Steve answered.

"Is there a blanket? I think I'll take a nap if that's okay."

Tony stood up. "Yeah. I'll get it."

"Are you tired?" I turned to Bucky. "When was the last time you slept?"

When he turned to face me, his face looked confused. A bit of worry crossed my mind, when was the last time he slept? I know about his scars, how painful it must've been... just how awful were these people to him? I turned more of my body to him and he still hadn't answered when Tony came back with a blanket.

I lifted the arm rest that was between Bucky and I with right hand so I wouldn't let go of his. All three of them had similar looks of confusion. I laid the blanket from Tony onto our laps, making sure to cover him. "Get some sleep, okay? For me?" I pleaded with him. Bucky's face softened, almost like he was going to smile but instead he nodded.

"Yes ma'am."

The words caused a flutter in my chest I tried to ignore as I relaxed beside him, ignoring the glares I was getting from Tony and the confused looks from Steve. When we landed, we could figure everything out. For now, I found my soulmate and that was enough.

And that time came too soon, Steve woke me up letting me know we landed. Bucky was awake, I wasn't sure he slept at all, and Tony was no where around us.

Steve led us to what looked like a conference room, surrounded by what I assumed to be all the Avengers, and some new recruits. Bucky reached for my hand again, not looking at me. Almost instinctively. Again, I felt that flutter in my chest. But that's how soulmates are supposed to feel, aren't they?

I felt small and out of place. "Uh, hi... sorry to be a bother, I... this was all a misunderstanding. I can go home-"

"It wasn't a bother." Steve interrupted. "And it worked out well, we've been looking for Bucky for a while."

At that, Bucky's head jerked up. I spoke out loud what he didn't. "You have? How long?"

"Since I found out he was alive."

"You mean, since he tried to kill us?" Natasha replied with a smirk. So, no hard feelings about that then. And what the hell was my soulmate involved in?

Steve glared at Natasha. "Romanoff, Don't start."

"What I don't understand" Tony stood up and walked around the table. "Is why they took you."

"They just kept calling me your girlfriend. I don't really know." I mumbled, embarrassed. I could see Bucky looking between Tony and I, questioningly it. "You paid for my parents funeral, and then the flowers... So they assumed, I guess. Didn't know that we haven't been together since college..." I trailed off, hoping both that Bucky would understand without it being to obvious that I wanted him to know.

Tony stared at the table, he looked completely zoned out. Someone I didn't recognize reached out to touch him. "Tony, don't blame yourself."

"Why the hell not, Bruce? They took her to get to me. They were going to kill her." Tony snapped, his voice sounding helpless.

"It's not your fault. And I'm fine, I promise. A good nights sleep and I can go back home and we can forget this happened." Tony didn't need to feel responsible for me or guilty about anything. He was just being kind by reaching out to me and taking care of the funeral, he doesn't owe me anything. It should just go back to normal, like this didn't happen.

Natasha looked to Tony, then back to me. "I'm sorry, Candace, we can't let you go until we know the threat is taken care of. Until we know they won't come after you again."

Everyone was avoiding my eyes. "But, what? I thought this was over, I thought-"

"Hydra isn't over." Bucky spoke from beside me, there was a tone of anger in his voice but his face just looked... sad. I wanted so badly to take care of him.

"We have a room for you, Candace. And you, Bucky. They're next to each other." A younger woman smiled at us, she seemed sweet.

"Thank you..."

"Wanda."

I smiled back at her. "Thank you, Wanda. I think I could really use a shower before I go to sleep."

"There's two shower rooms. One on this floor, then another a floor up by the gym. Buck, you can use that one while Candace uses the one here." Steve stood.

Bucky's hand gripped mine tighter, obviously not ready to be away from me. "Actually, there's stalls? Like a gym shower room?" Steve nodded. "Then we'll be okay in the same room." I smiled softly, hoping my blush wasn't too obvious.

"Can we talk?" Tony abruptly stood and walked out of the room, I followed after whispering that I'd be okay to Bucky. "You can't be alone with him."

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea what he's done?" Tony's voice in a hissed whisper.

"Tony-"

"No, I can't let you. We can't risk it."

I crossed my arms in front of me, annoyed. The mixture of exhaustion and overwhelmed was resinating badly on my mood. "First of all, you don't let me do anything. Secondly, you know he couldn't hurt me if he wanted to. Third, you can come for all I care! I just need a damn shower."

Tony didn't argue, he knew I was right. Soulmates can't harm the other, very few have ever tried. I don't even know for sure what happens. It's unheard of.

I walked back into the room and grabbed Bucky's hand, smiling at Steve. "Lead the way?"