Do You Trust Me? // Bucky Barnes

4

Upstate New York

Bucky

"Pick up the damn phone." Bucky paced back and forth as he waited patiently. Frustration poured through his veins as his hand ran over the stubble lining his jaw.

In the days since their meeting with Sharon, Sam and Bucky had been bickering like there was no tomorrow. It didn't help that they'd made no headway in finding the man Sharon had presented to them and Bucky knew they needed technology they simply didn't have. They needed Stark technology. And so Bucky Barnes was faced with seeking help from the one person he knew had access. He was faced with bringing more pain to a god damn child.

"Did you just-? Dammit." Bucky grunted as the phone patched through to voicemail and closed his eyes. "I swear to God, Spider Kid, if you keep ignoring my calls you are going to regret it. Call me. Now."

Queens, New York

Peter

"Happy?" Peter Parker's eyes were glued to the name on the screen of his phone as Happy Hogan stood in whispered conversations with his Aunt May. Sergeant James Barnes. The Winter Soldier. The Super Solider left behind. The one with the temper issues. He swallowed. Hard. "Happy, why is Sergeant Barnes calling me?"

Peter glanced up just as Happy's eyes snapped to the corner of the cramped room, piled high with folded chairs and collapsable tables, where Peter stood with his phone in his hands.

"He's what?"

"He's calling me." He held his phone out in front of him for Happy to see as he stepped past Aunt May and over to him. "I don't think I want to answer this."

"Answer it."

"You answer it," Peter retorted. His eyebrows knit together as his eyes widened and for a second his heart rate spiked and he felt panic wrapping itself around his throat. Bucky Barnes hadn't spoken to him since the funeral. He hadn't looked at him since Tony Stark was lay to rest. Since Steve left. Since they returned to a world where almost everyone they knew was gone. Bucky hadn't spoken to anyone. Just Sam. Peter didn't want to know what had to have happened for Barnes to want to talk to him now. What if it was them? Peter didn't think he could handle it if any more pain made its way into his life.

"Peter."

His thumb brushed over the glowing red icon - the one that sent the name Sergeant Barnes to some void of nothingness in the mechanical mystery of his phone - and Happy glared.

"You did not just hang up on the still slightly unhinged super soldier!?"

"I - erm - I gotta go." He glanced nervously over his shoulder as Aunt May approached, the tell tale tug of her lower lip giving life to the bubble of worry no doubt pushing itself up against her ribcage. "Crowd calling." He thumbed towards the door and May shook her head. "Meet and greet." Happy stepped forwards. "All that stuff."

"Peter," May's voice dripped with concern and Peter pressed the small button on his chest, triggering the mask that folded neatly into his Stark grade suit to wrap around his head as he glanced to her with apologies in his eyes.

"Sorry."

Brooklyn

Sam

The TV screen flickered from blues to greens and greys to browns. The reporters flashed images on the screen that he knew too well already, images of him and of Bucky. Images of Karli Morgenthau as he lowered her body to the ground.